Lee Daniels' The Butler is the perfect antidote to the sentimental pat on the head to white people that 2011's The Help* was.
Whereas in The Help, a young, white woman was the heroine of the story, a black, aging man is the hero of The Butler. Whereas the lives of black women in domestic service in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi were shown through the lens of which white people were mean to them and which white people were nice to them in The Help, The Butler tells the story of a black family through its own lens. Whereas you are bashed over the head with LIFE LESSONS in The Help, the lessons of The Butler are not so simple and not so obvious.
Where The Butler succeeds is in its ability to be a gentle movie with a strong message, and to tell the black characters' stories without the use of caricature and--more importantly--without the measuring stick of "BUT WHAT WERE THE WHITE PEOPLE DOING??" that haunts so many films about race.
The Butler, based on a true story, is about the life of Cecil Gaines. Born on a cotton plantation in the 1920's, Cecil watches as his father is murdered in cold blood by one of the hotheaded white male owners of the plantation--right after that same man rapes Cecil's mother. The matriarch of the plantation takes young Cecil aside and tells him, "I'm going to teach you to be a house nigger." This is the first instance of uncomfortable, yet brutally honest cognitive dissonance in the film. On the one hand, the term "house nigger" forces you to cringe. On the other hand, this "promotion" is a godsend to young Cecil, who learns valuable skills that will carry him through life. As racist as her words are, the matriarch was doing Cecil a kind turn by bringing him into her home to serve.
As a young man, Cecil leaves the plantation and finds work in a small hotel and is mentored by an older black man who slaps him when he refers to himself as a "house nigger". This man becomes a father figure to Cecil, teaching him the value of self-respect. As time goes on, Cecil (played by Forest Whitaker) gets a job in a ritzy hotel in Washington, DC, where he captures the attention of a politician who recommends him to work as a butler in the White House. And this is where the historical events of the story take off. Cecil (like his true life counterpart, Eugene Allen), serves in the White House over the course of eight presidential administrations. He serves at a time when race and racial integration were at the forefront of Americans' minds. One drawback of the film is that there is a definite hint of Magical Negro syndrome every time the president of the United States--from Dwight D. Eisenhower (played by Robin Williams--what?) to Richard Nixon (John Cusack--WHAAAT??!) to Ronald Reagen (Alan Rickman--ah, ok. He works) asks Cecil for his opinion on a matter regarding race.
The lack of subtlety in regards to how The Butler handles race on a large scale is the biggest flaw of the film. There are definitely moments that are cringeworthy and "on the nose". But The Butler has a nice card up its sleeve--the story of Cecil's family and how they cope with the Civil Rights Movement through the years. The film shines when it focuses on the relationship between Cecil and his alcoholic wife Gloria (Oprah, who gives a powerful performance, but appears to stay the same age over three decades) and the relationship between Cecil and his rebellious older son, Louis (David Oyelowo).
Cecil and Louis' father/son dynamic is especially interesting and complicated. Louis grows up to be a Civil Rights activist, participating in lunch counter sit-ins (a FANTASTIC and horrifying scene), freedom bus rides, and the Black Panther Party. While Cecil tries to be open-minded towards his son's liberalness, Louis sneers at his father--a mere butler spending his life dedicated to serving powerful, white men. I loved this dynamic because both characters are vastly sympathetic. On the one hand, I identified strongly with Louis' need to shake things up. But as "right" and with the times Louis is, he's such a dismissive little snot to the man who gave him everything. And militancy is an unstable ideology, whereas Cecil's path of hard work grants him the ability to raise a family and rise far, far above his start as a lowly house servant.
Despite the myriad cheesy moments of The Butler, the film has a good heart and soul. I can't quite give it a 4 star review because it has some problems, but I can say that I wish there were more films like it. It's sad that in 2013 we haven't quite evolved enough as a society to have some truly complex, interesting, and perhaps challenging films about race in mainstream theatres. In my very short time on earth it seems that racism has gotten more vile in recent years (a combination of the Internet, 24 hour news cycle, and the fact that the president has dark skin). But my dad, who actually lived through the Civil Rights Movement and is a man who has allowed his heart to be opened and changed by Civil Rights issues, says "We're doing better. But we're not there yet."
3.5 out of 5 stars
*I apologize if this is a strong opinion, and the fact is that the film The Help had a wonderful, female-friendly cast, but aspects of the film really made me chafe.
