Lee Daniels' The Butler

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Lee Daniels' The Butler
Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard
Directed by Lee Daniels

"Lee Daniels' The Butler" tells the story of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), who was raised as a slave on a plantation and worked his way up to becoming a butler that served eight different Presidents at the White House (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Regan).  All the while he tried to maintain peace and order in his family with his alcoholic wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey), his rebellious son Louis (David Oyelowo), and his other son Charlie (Elijah Kelley) who enlisted for Vietnam.

As the years progress the Gaines family come into personal contact with the segregation and racism in America, especially affecting Louis, who eventually joins the Black Panther movement and is repeatedly arrested for his rebellion against the government.  Meanwhile, Cecil maintains his job at the White House while fighting his own fight against racism.

Several people were surprised this film was snubbed by the Oscars.  Personally, I thought the film was well done, and there wasn't anything wrong with the acting, but overall it seemed that there was something missing from the film. 

I looked into the real life history of Cecil Gaines (whose real name was Eugene Allen), and found that the majority of this "true life" film was actually false.  Not to spoil anything for anyone who wants to see it, but the main struggle is between Cecil and his son Louis, and in real life Louis never existed.  He only had one son, Charlie, who did go to Vietnam, but the whole story with Louis (and how he seemed to be involved in every negative racist event) was made up for the film.

"The Butler" showcases how the African American community suffered unjustly at the hands of white America through the decades, and does a great job at showing the viewer how wrong it was and sheds light on a very dark time in our nations' history.  It left me angry at what had happened to them, and hopeful that those dark days are truly behind us.

My Rating: B+

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