Sensitive to criticism that a guy should take part of a day off once in awhile, I went with my leisure-loving life partner to see "The Butler" today--and was quite impressed.
The film has been criticized for being a bit too formulaic or artificial or tidy, a sort of black counterpart to "Forrest Gump" that goes out of its way to cover every iconic moment of modern American history.
I nevertheless liked the film for two big and interrelated reasons:
1) It's very rare to see a big movie that's not about white males. All of the major characters in this film are black. So is the director.
2) "The Butler" takes black life seriously. It shows blatant and subtle aspects of racism that most white people don't much think about, and it also shows why black people have responded to that racism in such diverse ways.
Race continues to be the "elephant in the American living room." Most of us like to act as if it doesn't matter. "The Butler" reminds us of why race and racism have long resided at the heart of American life.
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