The Butler

A good friend asked me this morning if I had seen "The Butler" yet.  I said that I hadn't and he said, "Its a good movie, but a little political!"  Well I thought, it is about a Butler to 7 Presidents!

I just got back from seeing it or should I say reliving it.

The Butler is a true story of a White House Butler.  It is a great history story that began just when I started reading my Weekly Readers at school and ends in 2008 with Obama's election.  It is well acted and well directed.  It is really the story of civil rights in the USA and is told in a fashion that makes the viewer uncomfortable.

I grew up with these stories.  The movie talks about the Freedom Riders and Civil Rights marches of Dr. King in 1964 in the south.  My parents and I drove through the south that summer and was 20 miles from Selma, Alabama when the famous march was held.  WE also stopped along the way in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and witnessed the signs and tension of the day.  This was a time of 2 lane highways not Interstates and cafes instead of fast food.  We would walk in a nice cafe, and see signs at the register saying, "WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO NIGGERS" and then see a large rack of KKK pamphlets by the door, where today we would see tourism information.  Nothing was hidden.

This movie depicts in a giant way what I witnessed in a small way.  It is a story that must be told and it is superbly so.

It is ****star.

2013 movie 36