Movie Review: Lee Daniel's The Butler

When I sat down to watch Lee Daniel's The Butler, I was all but unenthusiastic. The movie had received a ton of hype and for very good reason. It had an all-star cast rich with Oscar winners and nominees as well as several household names. I was most excited for Oprah's return to the big screen. I mean come on, who can not be excited for Oprah? That woman is amazing. I waited a while into the release of this movie in order to give people time to see it as I do plan not to hold back any information. So be warned, this review contains spoilers.

In a nutshell the butler is a story that gives a historic account of a butler that served under eight presidents. The story is loosely based on real life butler. And when I say loosely I mean loosely! It is definitely a story that takes a real life experience and attempts to transform it into something compelling and interesting. From the time that Cecil's (Forest Whitaker) father is shot and his mother is raped while he was in the share cropping fields you feel an emotional connection with the character and it very easily explains how he came to be a "house nigga". I like this scene because displays how Cecil gained his skills that would help him to become established at the cost of his fathers death. It also shows how slave owners did have some kind of sympathy and compassion for their slaves. Fast forward to adult life he is married to Gloria (Winfrey) and the story morphs into one about two very different experiences during the Civil Rights movement. The contrast is between Cecil who is a subservient African-American butler and his son Louis (David Oyelowo) who is dedicated to fighting against the oppression of the civil rights era. His son joins the freedom writers as well as the black panthers in the process. Daniels does a fine job with his juxtaposition of these two themes in a way that ignites passion within his audience. The scene where Cecil is serving the White House guests during a dinner while his son is getting taunted during sit-ins in the house is both chilling and enthralling. Forest Whitaker does a phenomal job with the physical characteristics and movements for his character however I felt as though his character never really experienced a dramatic change. I think the role wasn't able to really be explored because of it's nature. He was an African-American Butler serving during the mid 20th century. Only to be seen and not heard. I simply wish he would've been more active within his domestic life. It never seemed as though it pained him to endure serving for so long and listening in on all the racism and remarks without being able to comment. In my African American literature class we learned of a character in slave narratives that was described as somewhat educated but undeniably obedient to their owner. This type of character is also portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in D'Jango unchained. Imagine if D'Jango had been a movie based around Jackson's character and Fox's character was just a catalyst at the end of that movie to bring everything to an end. How terrible would that have been? What I am trying to say is that we love stories with protagonists that do something. Precious and Monsters Ball had main characters that were iconic and memorable but I honestly walked away from The Butler not admiring much about Cecil Gaines. In Lee Daniel's The Butler we simply saw Cecil's environment occurring around him with him barely reacting to it. I understand he is a passive character but he wasn't even aggressive in his passiveness. While I understand that the story in told from Cecil's account because he ties all the characters together and gives insight into the White House I still feel as though the expert testimony that comes from his experience still isn't fully realized. A lot of the presidents aren't featured long enough to become that memorable and Cecil really doesn't have much of an influence on the decisions they make. His reactions with them only seem to reinforce how passive his character is and must be. Ironically these scenes do however work to better illustrate the struggle Cecil's son faces as he progresses in his journey to fight for equal rights.

Then there is Cecil's wife Gloria played by Winfrey. For me she stole the show. I was much more interested in her story and background than I was her husbands. I do believe Oprah is well deserving of nominations this upcoming award season as she commanded the screens attention whenever she was on it. Viewers truly saw her character deal with a lot of pain and emotion as well as react differently as her character developed and grew throughout the film. The scene in which she is asking Cecil about how many shoes does Jackie Kennedy have was absolutely priceless. Can we get a spin off movie featuring Gloria? 

All in all I give Lee Daniel's The Butler a 3.5 out of 5 stars. While Daniel does try to bring his connection of the two stories together by the end of the movie I felt it was a bit rushed and fell flat. Especially after the way Cecil treated his son when got a surprise visit in the white house kitchen only to rally with him and end up and jail in what may have been two scenes later. I think the story would've been more intriguing if son and father switched roles as main character and supporting character. That way I think we could've received that raw, darker approach that Daniel does so well. There was so much more I wanted to know about the character. The dynamic of his relationship with Carol (Yaya Alafia) to the reason why he didn't attend his brother's funeral. Maybe it would've come across as simply another civil rights drama had that been the case but it would've been a much finer story in my opinion.