The Butler

• Drama

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.

The Butler is a 2013 drama following Cecil Gaines, a Black man who rises from poverty to become a White House butler, serving multiple US Presidents across decades. The film explores his personal struggle between passive duty and active involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, set against the backdrop of his family's internal conflicts. It was released on August 16, 2013.

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United States