Movie Review #6: Lee Daniels' The Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler
Director: Lee Daniels
Writer(s): Danny Strong
Starring: Forrest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelwo

I have a very high tolerance for Oscar bait. Sure, the practice of producing period dramas with good acting and exquisite costume design for the sole purpose of winning Academy Awards is unscrupulous and manipulative, but, so long as a good movie is the result, I'm totally OK with it. Just give me a good movie, and I'm satisfied. Now, turning a movie into a commercial: that is a crime for which I will not spare the rod. Both things considered, Lee Daniels' The Butler is both Oscar bait and a commercial. It excels at one, suffers as the other. But is it worth one's time? Let's find out.

Forrest Whitaker plays Cecil Gaines, the son of a sharecropping family who leaves his home to seek a better life elsewhere. Due to the racism of the South, he makes his way north, eventually earning a living as a butler in a hotel. His skills are such that he is invited to work at the White House as a butler. While there, he has to suffer in silence as decisions are made regarding the African American people, and he cannot say a word. Back at home, his son (David Oyelwo) joins the civil rights movement, playing the W.E.B. DuBois to his father's Booker T. Washington. The two come to conflict as the younger Gaines becomes more and more radical in his pursuit of justice. All the while, the Gaines family must suffer heartbreak after heartbreak as the family begins to tear itself apart.

Some say that Forrest Whitaker gives the performance of his career with Cecil Gaines. Having not seen The Last King of Scotland, I'm going to approach that statement with some trepidation. He is certainly effective in the role, but I'm not sure if every scene comes across quite perfectly. The role does feel somewhat manipulative as we watch it, rather than a genuine part. David Oyelwo is much more compelling as the son: he proves to be highly adaptable with the many different phases through which the son goes. Most of the other actors do fine jobs, though subtlety doesn't seem to be Cuba Gooding Jr.'s strong point in his role. A whole cadre of Hollywood all-stars play the various presidents, to varying degrees of success: Robin Williams plays a very convincing Dwight D. Eisenhower, but I never saw Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan. (Though, Jane Fonda does do a nice job as Nancy Reagan.) Most of these parts are subsidiary, as we are left to observe their actions, as is Cecil.

Structurally, the film's greatest deficiency is Oprah Winfrey as Cecil's wife. The film has no purpose for here. A subplot revolving around her infidelity is briefly introduced, but it ultimately amounts to nothing. She dies at the end of the movie, but we have no real reason to care about her. For the preceding two hours, all she does is act in a sassy manner. She's not a strong character; she's not even a character. She's just an excuse to put Oprah into the movie and add more star power to an already star-studded cast. Every second we spend with her is a second wasted on the film's real strength: the relationship between the father and the son.

I previously compared the relationship between Cecil and his son to the feud between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This may or may not have been Lee Daniels's intention, but, if it was,  it succeeded masterfully. The Butler brilliantly demonstrates the parallels between the moderate and the radical throughout the film, both visually and scripturally. Towards the beginning of the film's second act, we see excellently framed contrasts between the White House kitchen and the famous 1960s diner sit-ins. None of the later scenes quite match this, but the contrast between the message of Martin Luther King Jr. and that of the Black Panthers works well also. Though the film ultimately reconciles these contrasts with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, they do hold their own for at least the film's beginning. These stories aren't unknown, but they are worth telling multiple times; this film did manage to present them in an at least half-creative way.

Less creative is the heavy-handedness of the film. Every single theme is made glaringly obvious. There is no ambiguity, no room to disagree. Watching The Butler is equivalent to reading an Aesop's Fable: there is a clearly stated moral at the end. And, just like an Aesop's fable, the moral isn't anything deep or thought-provoking. The Butler manages to be interesting insofar as it is a family drama and a period piece, but as a piece meant to increase awareness of the African-American condition, it seems lacking.

And then there's the ending.

Oprah Winfrey has pulled no punches in her endorsement of President Barack Obama. It would not surprise me if her presence in this movie had nothing to do with the end result of the film. Cecil Gaines is eventually witness to the election of President Obama and is invited to the White House long after his retirement. This would just seem like a regular plot point designed to give us closure, but the film frames this moment as if this is the culmination of race relations in America. President Obama's becoming President is this great ultimate victory for African Americans in the United States. This practice seems manipulative and warped in every sense possible. First, to implicitly claim that racial problems in the US have died out since the Obama administration's beginning is to be wholly dishonest and insensitive. Second, to promote Obama solely on the basis of his race (a promotion the film implicitly, if not intentionally, makes) is to ignore both the strengths and failings of his character and administration. And, worst of all, the insertion of this scene and the manner in which it is carried makes the entire movie feel like a two hour campaign ad - after President Obama won his re-election. I wanted to watch this movie for the history, not to endorse someone I would have already voted for in the first place!

But, despite the shameless pandering of the film's conclusion, the journey remains engaging enough to warrant at least a watch. It's FAR from perfect, but it has enough elements to keep a critical viewer engaged. And, if one doesn't think too hard about it, Lee Daniels' The Butler is an enjoyable enough film. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a shameless commercial? Maybe. Is it Oscar-bait? Probably. Whatever the case, I am ultimately glad to have seen it. I just probably won't be watching it again.

Recommendation: Lee Daniels' The Butler moves quickly enough so that anyone of any age might enjoy it. Of the people I've spoken to, the ones who most liked the film are middle schoolers and young high schoolers. And, to be perfectly honest, that is the age demographic this kind of film for which this film is best engineered. However, if you are looking for a deeply engaging commentary on racial relations in America, I'd turn your attention to 12 Years a Slave or Do the Right Thing.

I give Lee Daniels' The Butler 5.8 stars out of 10.