Historical accuracy not the strong point of this engaging film, writes Mark Orton.
Director: Lee Daniels
Cast: Forrest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Elijah Kelley, Terence Howard, Adriane Lenox, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Junior, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Redgrave
Rating: (M)
3 stars out of 5
Inspired by the life of Eugene Allen, a butler who worked at the White House for 34 years, Lee Daniels' film is less concerned with historical accuracy and more with revisiting some of the dark recesses of the United States' racist past.
From the moment a young Cecil Gaines watches his mother raped and his father shot by a plantation owner in Macon, Georgia, we are given the perspective of an individual who realises that to survive in the white man's world, you become invisible. With a cursory troll through Gaine's teenage years, we are transported to the elder Gaines played wonderfully by Forrest Whitaker.
Happening upon one of the butler roles at the White House, Gaines' semblance of respectability and tranquil family life is tipped upside down as his eldest son Louis (David Oyelowo) heads south to take up the civil rights crusade.
Having trained himself to consciously avoid opinion, even being told during his interview that there ''are no politics here in the White House'', Gaines is torn by an allegiance to the job that has looked after his family so well, and his place in society as an African-American.
With a cast of notable musicians, the world's most famous talk-show host and some inspired choices for the five presidents, The Butler is seldom dull. But Daniels overcooks the melodramatic beats with sappy music cues.
Best thing: A close tie between Forrest Whitaker as Gaines and Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan.
Worst thing: The sentimentality.
See it with: No prior knowledge of the ''real'' story.
- Mark Orton.
