'The Butler' could learn from the butler
Generally, though, The Butler, as the sprawling political drama was called until a
title squabble necessitated the addition of director Daniels' name, is a noble
project of keen interest to anyone willing to take a hard look at the grittier
side of U.S. history.
It should come as no surprise that Forest
Whitaker, the Academy Award-winning title character of The Last King of Scotland in 2006, is superb to the point of
jumping into the Oscar contender’s race again as Gaines.
Whitaker waved his fist in the air and
screamed orders as dictator Idi Amin in The
Last King of Scotland. As Gaines,
though, one of his generation’s most gifted actors gets under the skin and into
the soul of a humble man whose granite backbone was forged as a young boy when
he witnessed ruthless mistreatment of both parents on a cotton farm in the Deep
South in 1926.
Slavery may have officially been a thing of
the past by about a half century by then, but this film’s early scenes may inspire some in the audience to dig
out a history book and check to make sure.
First as an act of survival, then as a
vocation, Gaines learns to serve. Once
he makes his way to Washington, D.C., the observant servant lands a job first
at a fine hotel and finally at the White House, where he stands out as a loyal
African-American serving wealthy white folks.
The
Butler begins to flounder when
it becomes apparent that Daniels, the Oscar-nominated director of Precious:
Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009), and screenwriter Danny
Strong (Game Change on HBO) haven’t
set out to tell a personal story, but a personal story that will touch on every
significant moment in black history from cotton field violence to Barack Obama’s
tenure in the White House.
Not since Little
Big Man (1970), which featured Dustin Hoffman and spanned about a century
of Old West history, has a film bitten off so much. Even with a running time of 12 minutes past
the two-hour mark, The Butler rushes
along; alternating scenes of Gaines serving seven presidents from studious Dwight
D. Eisenhower (Robin Williams) to gregarious Ronald Reagan, who is very
well-acted by Great Brit Alan Rickman, with Louis, Gaines’ eldest son who
migrates south for college and chronicles the civil rights movement.
Some characters come and go swiftly in this father-and-son tale of reverent service by the elder that contrasts sharply with rebellious freedom fighting by the son. That son, by the way, is performed without flaw by David Oyelowo (Lincoln), who appeared last year in Daniels’ The Paperboy and could be in the running for a supporting actor Oscar himself.
Oprah Winfrey also brings strong support as
Gaines’ longsuffering, often boozed-up wife Gloria. Perhaps a bit advanced in age to pull off
scenes as a young adult, the near-legendary TV chat host and media mogul performs
her difficult character with nuance and skill the rest of the way.
I also enjoyed Jane Fonda’s brief scenes as Nancy
Reagan. Not just for Fonda’s acting
chops, which she has long displayed, but just for the irony of Fonda, the über
liberal, portraying the wife of a famously conservative U.S. president.
It would be a mistake to think of The Butler as the accurately portrayed
story of a humble man who had a backstage pass, as it were, to history and
polished the White House silverware as his ostracized son fought on the front lines
of the civil rights movement, however.
This is a case of a story “inspired by” the
extraordinary life of Eugene Allen, who actually served eight presidential
administrations. Strong’s screenplay merely
uses the real story (which can be found in Wil Haygood’s 2008 Washington Post
piece titled A Butler Well Served by This
Election as a dramatic launching pad.
Characters and historic conflicts are
inserted to stir the dramatic pot wildly when, from this aisle seat, the man
and his humility would have served the dramatic purpose just fine.
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MPAA rating: PG-13 (some violence and disturbing images, profanity, sexual material, thematic elements and smoking)
Running time: 132 minutes
Jalapeño rating: 3 (out of 4)
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