The Butler: Tracking the African-American Civil Rights in a New Way.

• The Butler (2013) loosely depicts the life events of Eugene Allen, who served as a butler at the White House for 34 years, between 1952 and 1986. This American history drama captures the living history of Cecil Gaines, who served as a butler under eight different presidents. The narrative focuses upon the difficult race relations between the whites and the blacks in the South, and this focal point is heightened through the fact that Cecil Gaines' eldest son Louis, becomes a political radical which provides a great amount of tension with the Gaines household.
  
  
  

  The film begins in with Cecil as a boy on a cotton plantation in Georgia where he witnesses his mother be raped and his father get shot. These poignant moments invoke the important thematic silence of African Americans in the face of their white American "owners" or "superiors". It is this topical silence which effectually infects the father-son relationship between Cecil and Louis Gaines, who adopts the typical Black Panther identity and ethos which favours violent retaliation to racial segregation and discrimination. 
  
  
  Cecil Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker, and his wife, Gloria Gaines, played by Oprah Winfrey, illustrate a typical marriage with both love and hardships; and at one moment the archetypal soap opera extra-marital affair with the neighbour. They both act with proficiency and effectively convey emotion to their viewership. Alongside these two leading actors, the film is studded with various stars all of whom contribute to ensure that the production makes a large impact. 
  
  
  

  

  Whilst Louis Gaines is depicted throughout the cinematic enterprise as an active agent within the civil rights campaign, Cecil Gaines' refusal to become actively involved with the civil rights campaign is both respectable and infuriating. Gaines continues with his "keep quiet" mantra which he discovered during his early days as a humble hotel butler.
  
  Forest Whitaker is dramatically enriching within his portrayal of The Butler, particularly in light of the background of racial tensions and battle for civil rights. The film appropriately concludes rather too neatly on the precipice of a meeting between Cecil Gaines and the recently inaugurated black president, Barack Obama.   
  
  This cinematic production is a filled to the brim with various famous actors which adds to the dynamic of the film. However, with the coherence of Forest Whittaker and Oprah Winfrey throughout admirably making a powerful and understated impact. Overall, the film is thoroughly enjoyable and enriching in its suppressed emotional nature which pervades the entire performance.