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The Butler and other tid bits


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I went to see "Lee Daniels' The Butler" over the week-end with my granddaughter.  She loved it, declaring it to be a great history lesson.  I liked it OK. 

 

 I think my luke warm endorsement has to do with me finding out that a white person wrote the screen play.  When asked about his credentials to undertake this, his answer was predictable.  He said he did research and interviews and then put his empathy and writing skills to work.  The result was a fictionalized episodic journey, plodding through  the 1930s Jim Crow South up until the Ronald Reagan presidency in the 1980s. 

 

Although I could not relate to everything in the movie, all the events were familiar to me because, like the person whose life this film was based on, I had lived through the terms of the Presidents he served. And as I have said on numerous occasions, it depends on what part of the country you lived in as to what your black experience consisted of. Things were not as bad up North as they were down south, where sharecroppers were one notch above being slaves.   

 

It was obvious to me that the guy who wrote the script felt an obligation to incorporate stereotypical scenarios in the emblematic plot line, giving a nod to famous black legends along the way. The characters were each created to represent a certain point of view.  They were driven and limited by what they were portraying rather than who and, as a result, they were 2-dimensional. Music styles were used to identify what time period the quest for equality was going through, and what the characters wore actually served more as costumes.  I also felt the Ebonic-tinged dialogue was self-conscious, especially in the comic relief snapshots. Slang is one thing; broken English another.   BTW, the word "nigger" was generously dispersed throughout the movie.

 

Nevertheless, all the actors, including Oprah, gave a good accounting of themselves, and as a vehicle that serves as a history lesson for the younger generations "the Butler" does an adequate job.  **1/2.

 

It was appropriate that after seeing this movie, the 50th anniversary of the March On Washington,  another event I had witnessed, was played out on TV. I never thought that, over the years, things would regress.  MLk had a dream but "we was overcome".  Congressman John Lewis, civil rights veteran who was there 50 years ago, entreated the crowd to not "give out, not give in, and not give up."  Good advice.  I guess. 

 

 

And while I'm on the subject of monumental events  I must say that Kanye and Kim's daughter, "North" certainly outshines England's newest heir to the throne, Prince George. I'm still waiting for that sleeping cue ball who looks like a crabby old man to get cute.

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Yeah I saw The Butler over last week myself.  Cynique you gave a very good account of the film, one that reasonated more with me that the review that Kam wrote.

 

The film was OK in my opinion, notthing to write home about.  I actually found it rather long.  It needed to be tighted up a bit.  I think they could have completely ditched Terrance Howard's characther, without losing anything and developed the main characters a more.

 

All of the characters, as you say performed well.  But it was a talented cast and that was expected.

 

My wife probably liked the film less that I did my 20+ year old daughters liked it a bit more.

 

It would have been nice to know what was made up in the film and what was true. The opening scene was terrible but was it comepletely made up? 

 

The son's character was a bit too much for me.  He is on the famous bus that got burned up with the Freedom Riders in it, then he is in the leadership of the Black Panther, and ultimately becomes a US Congressman.  OK I guess that is possible but I'd like to know who that dude is and was he also the son of "The Butler" too. 

 

I even begin to doubt if the butler actually had the ear of each president.

 

It seems to me the truth is compeling enought, but I guess the white screenwriter felt the need to add the rape, adultery, murder to make it more realistic to a mass audience...

 

Notheless The Butler may achieve a 3rd week at the top of the box office, depending upon how well the One Direction film does this weekend.

 

Needless to say I'm glad the film was made.

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