+ Best Political Movie of the Year
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| A refined butler shows a protesting world a brave face from a window in the White House on this powerful poster for Lee Daniels' The Butler |
A black boy,s whose father is murdered on the cotton farm in the South where he grows up, is later in life accepted as a butler in the White House under president Eisenhower, continuing to serve under the leadership of the seven subsequent presidents, as the country goes through great changes.
The Butler is a distinguished film written by Danny Strong (Game Change (2012, TV movie), based on the Washington Post article A Butler Well Served by This Election by Wil Haygood (Two on the River (1986)), which concerned White House butler Eugene Allen, and directed as the 4th feature by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer (2005)). Although the film is only very loosely based on Eugene Allen's life, which was different in many ways from the film's butler, Daniels' film comes off as a soberly and thoroughly professionally handled historical biopic drama.
It is led by Oscar-worthy performances from Forest Whitaker (Repo Men (2010)) and Oprah Winfrey (Selma (2014)), who are truly moving as the titular butler and his wife. The Butler is eminent storytelling that should heal wounds and contribute to a deeper understanding of the different experiences and circumstances of especially whites and blacks during the 20th century, - in America as in many other parts of the world.
The Butler is emotionally charged without ever becoming too much. Among its fine supporting actors David Oyelowo (Nightingale (2014)) as Whitaker's rebellious son, Cuba Gooding Jr. (Life of a King (2013)) as his work-pal, Robin Williams (August Rush (2007)) as Pres. Eisenhower, Liev Schreiber (Defiance (2008)) as Pres. Johnson and Alan Rickman (David Harbor (1998)) as Pres. Reagan all give commendable, strong performances.
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Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 176.5 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Butler premiered 5 August (New York) and runs 132 minutes. Funding for the independent production began coming together in 2011 as something of a puzzle. The title was changed to Lee Daniels' The Butler in North America, because Warner Bros. made a claim to the title due to a now-lost 1916 short of the same title ('The Butler' that is). Filming took place in Louisiana, including New Orleans, from June - October 2012, delayed from a scheduled August end due to Hurricane Isaac. Among the things in the film that were different in Allen's real life is that he wasn't from Georgia, didn't experience the trauma concerning his parents that's in the film, and that his son wasn't a radical. The film's portrayal of Pres. Reagan's stance towards South-Africa's apartheid is also contested. The film opened #1 to a 24.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 2 weeks before spending a week as #2 and one as #4 and then leaving the top 5, grossing 116.6 mil. $ (66.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 16.9 mil. $ (9.6 %) and Italy with 7 mil. $ (4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3/4 stars, translating to a notch less than this review. The film was nominated for 2 BAFTAs and many other awards and honors, - but not a single Oscar. Daniels went on to work on TV-series Empire (2015-17) and Star (2016-17) as director-writer-producer. He is slated to direct a remake of the 1983 drama Terms of Endearment starring Winfrey. The Butler is fresh at 72 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Butler?
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