North West Theatre Company Film Club MOVIE OF THE MONTH

The Butler fits the bill for August at the Roxy

The North West Theatre Company’s Film Club offer for August is ‘The Butler’, the 2013 American historical drama film loosely based on the real life of Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House for decades.

The film stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, an African-American who is a witness of notable political and social events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure serving as a White House butler. It is directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels and with a screenplay by Danny Strong.

The Butler is inspired by Wil Haygood’s Washington Post article “A Butler Well Served by This Election”. It will show at the Roxy on Sunday 27 at 4pm.

In addition to Whitaker, the film’s all-star cast also features Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber, Robin Williams, and Clarence Williams III.

The film was theatrically released on August 16, 2013, to mostly positive reviews from critics, with many praising the cast but criticizing the historical accuracy, particularly the portrayal of President Reagan. The film grossed over $177 million worldwide against a budget of $30 million.]

The plot begins in 2009. An elderly Cecil Gaines recounts his life story while waiting at the White House to meet the newly inaugurated president.

In 1937, at age 18, Cecil leaves the cotton plantation where he was born and raised. Desperately hungry, he breaks into a hotel pastry shop. The elderly master-servant Maynard takes pity on him and gives him a job.

Cecil learns advanced serving and interpersonal skills from Maynard, who later recommends Cecil for a position in a Washington, D.C. hotel. While working there, Cecil meets and marries Gloria, and the couple have two sons: Louis and Charlie.

In 1957, Cecil is hired by the White House during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration. White House maître d’hôtel Freddie Fallows introduces him to the head butler. Cecil witnesses Eisenhower’s reluctance to use troops to enforce school desegregation, then his resolve to uphold the law by racially integrating Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.

In 1961, after John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, Louis and others are attacked by members of the Ku Klux Klan while on a freedom ride to Birmingham, Alabama. Louis participates in the 1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade, where dogs and water cannons are used to stop the marchers, an action which inspires Kennedy to deliver a national address proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

After Kennedy is assassinated, his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, enacts the legislation. As a goodwill gesture, Jackie Kennedy gives Cecil one of the former president’s neckties.

Submitted by Rick Hutton – NWTC Film Club Secretary

In the late 1960s, after civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, Louis tells his family that he has joined the Black Panthers. Cecil orders Louis and his girlfriend to leave his house. Louis is again arrested. Cecil becomes aware of President Richard Nixon’s plans to suppress the Black Panthers.

Charlie confides to Louis that he plans to join the war in Vietnam. After enlisting, he is killed and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. When the Black Panthers resort to violence, Louis leaves the organization and returns to college, earning his master’s degree in political science and eventually running for a seat in Congress, although Cecil continues to hold resentment against him.

Cecil repeatedly approaches his supervisor at the White House over the unequal pay and career advancement provided to the black, White House staff. With President Ronald Reagan’s support, Cecil prevails, his reputation growing to the point that he and his wife are invited by the Reagans to be guests at a state dinner. Cecil becomes uncomfortable with the class divisions in the White House. After witnessing Reagan’s refusal to support economic sanctions against Apartheid South Africa, he resigns.

The Butler will be screened at the Roxy Theatre, Bingara at 4:00pm on Sunday August 27.