Living past its name

‘The Butler’ is the next ‘Forrest Gump’

By Jerrison Oracion, Contributor

4/5

Released in August, The Butler is more than its namesake. Based roughly on the life of White House butler Eugene Allen, the film explores the life of Cecil Gaines (an interpretation of Allen, played by Forest Whitaker), who tells his story after working as a butler for eight presidents over the course of 30 years.

Also starring in the film are David Oyelowo as Gaines’ oldest son Louis, and Oprah Winfrey as Gaines’ wife Gloria. A big attraction for the film also comes from the many cameos and disguised casting, from Robin Williams as Dwight D. Eisenhower to John Cusack as Richard Nixon to Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan. And of course, Lee Daniels, known previously for his work on 2009’s Precious, did a great job directing the film.

Something of note is that The Butler is similar to 1994’s Forrest Gump in that both films feature a person who inspired people to do many things. While the film mainly focused on Gaines’ personal life, it would have been nice to see more of the conversations that he had with the various presidents (assuming they were had).