by Joseph Rossi
Lee Daniels’ The Butler is the first film I’ve seen this summer that made me notice actual performances. I was worried that the last three months of effects and rapid editing made me immune to the simplicity of a good story and the subtly of acting.
Forest Whitaker is, right now, to me, a contender for an Oscar nomination. He plays Cecil Gaines, the son of a cotton field laborer, who becomes the head butler in the Whitehouse serving under several presidents over the course of about 30 years. During his time there he become a witness to many of the major events in the course of African American history. The films cuts between his work life and the life he shares with his wife (Oprah Winfrey) and his sons.
Many will complain this film bares a similar resemblance to the sweet and sugary Forest Gump, as it uses pivotal moments in history as narrative devices and inserts characters in and around them. Those people are the kind of film purists that always pray for unhappy endings and applaud when the hero dies. There is not a cynical bone in this film’s body. The film may be handled like and called award bait — but so what? It’s what Hollywood does best. It’s moving, it’s funny, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting, so for me, it checks off all the boxes.
Again, the acting is amazing. Whitaker is better here then in his award winning turn in The Last King of Scotland. Oprah made me forget about, well, Oprah. She is that good in what could have been a throwaway role of the long-suffering wife. Gaines’s son Louis, played by British actor David Oyelowo, is the breakout star of this film. He is excellent and I hope this gets him more work aside from amazing supporting bit parts. The presidents are a who’s who of Hollywood stars. Robin Williams, Alan Rickman and John Cusack all take turns in the oval office.
I loved this movie. In a time of big and bloated monsters comes a small, intimate and important portrait of the past. See it.
