No one would ever think that Cecil Gaines could make it that far because of his race, but he sure as hell did. “Lee Daniels the Butler” is an inspiring, dramatic, true story portraying some of America’s most challenging decades. The movie starts out with Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) as a young boy working in a cotton field. Soon after his father died, he was taken in by the plantation owner to learn the skills of being a house servant. As time went on, Cecil progressed in his skill as a butler to the point of being offered a job at the White House. While at the White House, he served eight presidents over a three decade time period.

I feel that this film is a must see, especially if you like very dramatic historical films. The film traces  the intense changes of American society during the civil rights movement and the struggle of African Americans to achieve equality nearly 100 years after the end of slavery, which is a very important and attention-grabbing subject because it was during some of America’s hardest decades. This was the main reason why I went to see the film because that time period really interests me. The film also had a handful of well-known actors such as Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, and Robin Williams.

The only thing that I didn’t enjoy about the film was how it spanned all the way from 1926 to 2008 not touching on many significant historical events of the 20^th century. At times, I thought it was hard to keep up with the many time periods and events going on in the film. Still,  this was an astounding and heartwarming film that everyone should get a chance to see.