Lee Daniels’ The Butler
should have been swamped with award nominations. The movie was a wonderfully told story. It was informative and entertaining. It was classy and emotional, yet boldly
miserable depicting life experienced
by America’s citizens in this nation from mid-twentieth century
almost until the turn into this new century.
It seems every widely known critiquing group, such as Golden
Globes, Critic’s Choice, Screen Actor’s Guild, the Oscar folk, and People’s
Choice essentially ignored the outstanding merits of Mr. Daniels’ important movie.
This land of ours is so big, so diverse, and so mighty fruitful
that community despair in any corner of its wide expanse might be only a
snippet of news, easily pushed aside. That, I’m certain, for many in America is how
the Civil Rights Movement is known, not much more than a headline. Lee
Daniels’ The Butler brought the human
condition of that time to those who only knew, really knew, the outcome. Opportunity for equality, denied for many generations in America, now exists.
Seeing layer upon layer of the Civil Rights story out there in a
movie, in theatres everywhere was spiritually gratifying.
Waiting to hear the movie applauded through the award nomination
process then experiencing the practically total disregard for its excellence
was shocking and heartbreaking. I wanted
to rant and rave about the injustice. I
couldn’t.
The passage of time finds me emotionally stable, able to simply document for posterity,
“We Wuz Robbed”.
So many actors warranted recognition. But, it was a tearfully sad shock that Forest
Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey were not nominated for their outstanding depictions
of the butler and his wife. Their work from early in the characters' lives into debilitated
senior citizen years, through one emotional minefield after another, was superb.
Also
quite impressive were Mariah Carey, Vanessa Redgrave, John Cusack, Lenny
Kravitz, Terrance Howard, Jane Fonda, and Jim Gleason.
