Book review "The Butler"

The Butler (full title Lee Daniels' The Butler)

is a 2013 American historical drama film

directed and produced by Danny Strong.

This film, based on the real life story of Eugene Allen, stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, an African-American who eyewitnesses notable有名な events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure任期 serving as a White House butler under 7 presidents.  

  

Cecil Gaines was born and raised on a cotton plantation, by sharecropping 小作人parents.

One day, the farm's owner, rapes Cecil's mother, played by ﾏﾗｲｱ・ｷｬﾘｰin the film, Cecil's father confronts立ち向かう him and is shot dead.             

Cecil is trained as a house servant on the farm.

In his teens, he leaves the plantation and his mother, who has been mute唖者since the incident.   

He learns advanced skills from a master servant in a hotel, who, after several years, recommends Cecil for a position in a Washington D.C. hotel.

While working at the D.C. hotel, Cecil meets and marries Gloria, and the couple has two children, Louis and Charlie.

In 1957, Cecil is hired by the White House during Eisenhower's administration.  President Eisenhower, played by Robin Williams.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

At the White House, Cecil witnesses Eisenhower's reluctance不本意な to use troops to enforce school desegregation(dìː-sègrɪgéɪʃən) 黒人差別撤廃 in the South, and then the President's resolve 決議するto uphold支持する the law by integrating 統合する　Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.

Louis, the elder son, becomes a first generation university student of Black people at Fisk University in Tennessee.

Louis joins a student program which leads to a nonviolent sit-in at a segregated diner(dάɪnɚ)簡易食堂, where he is arrested.

Cecil is furious with Louis’s actions.

In 1964, John F. Kennedy made a national address proposing the Civil Rights Act.  Several months after the speech, Kennedy is assassinated.

His successor後任者, Lyndon B. Johnson, enacts制定する the transformative変化させるlegislation法律制定 into law.

In the late 1960s, after civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Louis visits and tells his family that he has joined the radical organization called the Black Panthers.  Upset at his son's actions, Cecil orders Louis to leave his house. 　　Again, Louis is soon arrested.

Cecil becomes aware of Richard Nixon's plans to suppress鎮圧する the movement.                                                          

A few months later, Charlie, the second son is killed in Vietnam and buried (béri) at Arlington National Cemetery.

However, when the Black Panthers resort手段 to violence in response to racial　人種のconfrontations政治的な対立, Louis leaves the organization and returns to college, earning his master's degree in political science and eventually running for a seat in Congress.

 Meanwhile, Cecil confronts his supervisor at the White House over the unequal pay and career advancement　provided the black White House staff. With Ronald Regan's support　he prevails勝つ、説き伏せる, and his professional reputation評判 grows to the point that he and his wife are invited at state dinner.

After witnessing Reagan's refusal to support economic sanctions認可、承認、制裁 against South Africa, he resigns.

The film ends with Cecil preparing to meet the newly inaugurated President Barack Obama at the White House.

When I was looking for a movie for this review, I found a leaflet of this film.

It said “実話に基づく感動のヒューマン・スペクタクル！”

I like a true story better than fiction.

So I went to movie-theater for the first time in many years.

My impressions about this film are:

The main character is Cecil, his mother was raped and father was killed by white man.  There were no rights for black people against the white people, even if it was a murder at that time.  How sad it was!

He worked hard and found a nice job in the White house.

He married and had two sons.

The elder son confronted segregation, because his father worked for the white people.  There was a discord不和 in the house.

The second son was killed in the Vietnam War.

However, Cecil had been working for the White house for 34 years and served 7 presidents, and was invited a state dinner. 

Later, the elder son becomes a member of congress.

They lived happily.

When I came back home, I researched this movie and Eugene Allen for the review.

I found that he was working as a butler for 34 years in the White house, he  eye witnessed notable有名な events of the 20th century during those years, but his private life is not as dramatic as the movie.

I found a column in the “Time”

It had this description:

“Daniels’ film replaces the real Eugene Allen with the fictional Cecil Gaines, using the unique perspective 見方of a White House butler as a jumping-off (start) point to explore調査する questions of race in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The result is a largely fictional film, rather than a biopic.伝記映画(/ˈbaɪoʊpɪk)biographical picture.

With the help of several sources, including a 2008 article in the Washington Post that chronicled 年代順Allen’s life and inspired the film, we know what fact is and what fiction is.

1. Eugene Allen’s parents

What befalls振りかかる、起こるhis parents on the cotton field was added for dramatic effect. 

2. Cecil had a wife and two kids, actually Allen had a wife and one kid, Charles.

3. Allen’s son was a Black Panther and ran for office later in life

Though tension between father and son over civil rights issues fuels(fjúːəl)燃え上がらせる、たきつける most of the drama in the film, Charles Allen was not the radical political activist that Gaines’s son is in the movie. Charles Allen worked as an investigator for the State Department and never ran for public office.

The article made more comparisons between fact and fiction.

These articles are in accord with my opinion. 

In this film, Cecil’s dramatic scenes are his parents’ incident and discord with his son.  Those incidents made the movie very dramatic and those parts represented the important aspects of the Cecil’s private life.

If those parts are fiction, it is better not say  “実話に基づく感動のﾋｭｰﾏﾝ・ｽﾍﾟｸﾀｸﾙ!”. 

Because, if I didn’t research this film, I would have believed that most of Cecil’s private life in the movie was based on the real story.

As a movie representing black people’s history, it was directed well.