The Butler

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

Forest Whitaker's performance is the film's most consistent point of praise, but critics divided sharply over whether Lee Daniels earns his emotional ambitions or simply manufactures them. The broad strokes of American history filtered through one man's life drew Forrest Gump comparisons from several reviewers, and the film's tendency to underline every point with unmistakable force left some admiring its scope while others found it sledgehammer-obvious.