This film was inspired by and loosely based on the career of Eugene Allen, a black butler who served 8 presidents in the White House, the "lifetime" of a fictional "Cecil Gaines" (Whittaker) and his family is used to briefly retrace the conflicts and advances in American race relations over the last 100 years.
I was mistaken in seeing this film, thinking that it was the biographical drama of an actual White House butler's experiences. It is NOT, and I didn't fully realize that until after the movie when I turned to the internet to get more information. There are OCCASIONAL similarities between the lives and experiences of the actual butler (Eugene Allen) and the character, "Cecil Gaines," inspired by Allen and brilliantly portrayed by Forest Whittaker. But many spicy & highly charged elements have been added, no doubt to more dramatically portray the severity and some of the extremes that were fostered and tolerated in America during Allen's/"Gaine's" lifetime (plus add dramatic tension).
I'm 85 and lived through many of those years. I was active in demonstrating for racial equality (and fortunately never injured as some others were). While this movie shows a few extreme examples (& newsreel clips) of racism & protests, I totally agree with A.O. Scott's statement in his NYTimes review: "A brilliantly truthful film on a subject" (civil wrongs) "that is usually shrouded in wishful thinking, mythmongering and outright denial...."
BUT I DO wish that this movie made it clear FROM THE BEGINNING that it's NOT the film version of a biography but an "As if" drama of what many people, such as Mr. Allen, did or could experience. Several internet sites list the several places this movie's details of the fictional "Mr. Gaines'" life correspond with Mr. Allen's actual life and the many where they do not. E.g., Mr. Allen's one son served in Viet Nam and returned safely whereas this film's fictional "Mr. Gaines" has 2 sons: 1 killed in Viet Nam, and another active in the Black Panthers, etc. (One of those sites is "How True Is The Butler" at www.slate.com)
I'll be surprised if Forest Whittaker and Oprah Winfrey do not, at the least, receive Oscar nominations for their roles; they were both outstanding. But the characterizations of many presidents (and their wives) vary between good and "unhh!"
My rating of 8 is downgraded from 10 because of objections cited.
I was mistaken in seeing this film, thinking that it was the biographical drama of an actual White House butler's experiences. It is NOT, and I didn't fully realize that until after the movie when I turned to the internet to get more information. There are OCCASIONAL similarities between the lives and experiences of the actual butler (Eugene Allen) and the character, "Cecil Gaines," inspired by Allen and brilliantly portrayed by Forest Whittaker. But many spicy & highly charged elements have been added, no doubt to more dramatically portray the severity and some of the extremes that were fostered and tolerated in America during Allen's/"Gaine's" lifetime (plus add dramatic tension).
I'm 85 and lived through many of those years. I was active in demonstrating for racial equality (and fortunately never injured as some others were). While this movie shows a few extreme examples (& newsreel clips) of racism & protests, I totally agree with A.O. Scott's statement in his NYTimes review: "A brilliantly truthful film on a subject" (civil wrongs) "that is usually shrouded in wishful thinking, mythmongering and outright denial...."
BUT I DO wish that this movie made it clear FROM THE BEGINNING that it's NOT the film version of a biography but an "As if" drama of what many people, such as Mr. Allen, did or could experience. Several internet sites list the several places this movie's details of the fictional "Mr. Gaines'" life correspond with Mr. Allen's actual life and the many where they do not. E.g., Mr. Allen's one son served in Viet Nam and returned safely whereas this film's fictional "Mr. Gaines" has 2 sons: 1 killed in Viet Nam, and another active in the Black Panthers, etc. (One of those sites is "How True Is The Butler" at www.slate.com)
I'll be surprised if Forest Whittaker and Oprah Winfrey do not, at the least, receive Oscar nominations for their roles; they were both outstanding. But the characterizations of many presidents (and their wives) vary between good and "unhh!"
My rating of 8 is downgraded from 10 because of objections cited.