Lee Daniel's The Butler (2013) - A beautiful statement for the liberty of the Afro-American community - 8/10 (26/09/13)

"Lee Daniels' The Butler" is a detailed drama about the modern history of the Afro-American people from the dark years of slavery in the beginning of the twentieth century over the revolutions around historical characters like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X up to the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America. Don't expect this movie to be a biopic because the story doesn't have much to do with the original White House butler. If you care about other major historical events than those in connection to the Afro-American history, you may also be disappointed. Events like the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War or the Watergate scandal that shook up the White House are only mentioned on site notes. You will see a lot of presidents coming and going but I felt that they were rather some sort of amusing high school theatre staffage than profound characters. Lyndon B. Johnson was simply ridiculously funny, Richard M. Nixon looked like an arrogant loser who only cared about himself and Ronald W. Reagan felt like the most conservative and closed-minded politician among the presidents shown in this movie. Some presidencies have also been skipped in the movie and I wasn't surprised to see that there is no scene with Jimmy Carter who happens to be one of the least impressive and most unpopular American Presidents. Republican purists might argue that this movie idealizes John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama instead of several Republican presidents and they do have a point here. But anyway, these characters are just frames for the main topic of the liberation of the Afro-American people.

What I liked about this movie was the gripping story of the butler with all its ups and downs. The movie starts with a few shocking scenes I will let you discover on your own. Later, the viewers see how the young and hungry thief that has no place to call his home becomes a talented and serious butler who even makes it to the White House. This movie shows the essence of the famous American Dream and that's where it has a slightly cheesy patriotic touch which might be quite normal and unspectacular for American viewers but which feels a little bit strange for international viewers.

In the second part of the movie, the perspective switches a little bit. The story of the butler itself isn't all that interesting anymore. You rather care about his alcoholic and frustrated wife and his two very different sons. One of them is in constant opposition to his father, doesn't really care about his studies and is in prison all the time because he fights for the laws of Afro-American people. The other one wants to go to Vietnam as a soldier. These natural everyday life stories carry the second part of the movie very well and serve as clear guiding lines throughout all the decades portrayed in this movie.

This concept works well because of a great sense for historical settings, the decent use of archive footage, the simple but efficient soundtrack and the balanced mixture of historical facts and credible fiction. One must also point out the excellent acting in this movie. Main actor Forest Whitaker delivers the best performance of his career. I was very positively surprised by the acting talent of Oprah Winfrey as well who incarnated the butler's wife. The rest of the movie is filled with more or less useful star cameos. We can see celebrities such as Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz but also gifted actors like Robin Williams and Alan Rickman in this movie. In this case, their appearances are entertaining enough and appropriated to the epic historical story line with many different characters and many cooks don't spoil the broth this time. I would also like to point out a younger actress which was Yaya Alafia who played a slightly evil human rights activist in this movie. Her acting was simple but very credible and she perfectly represented the evil beauty you would definitely fall for. I hope to see further serious movies with her that would head for the crime or horror genres.

In the end, I really enjoyed watching this movie for three precise reasons. First of all, I am very interested in American history in general. Second, I am intrigued by the history of Afro-American and black people and I honestly sympathize with this proud people even if I'm white. Third, the acting performances really made the difference here between a rather boring epic like "Argo" or "Lincoln" which I didn't like and a truly gripping drama with a humanist message like this. When I watched the movie at my local cinema, some people spontaneously stood up after the presentation and applauded. I wouldn't call this movie an excellent one but I wouldn't be surprised if this film won a few Academy Awards next year. You should watch this movie if you care for at least two out of the three reasons I've just mentioned. If you don't do so, this movie is not interesting for you and you should either go for a specific documentary about the topic or another and more fictional genre.