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plain but heavy
Dillon 2022-03-24 09:02:02
Saw The butler on a night tormented by colds and vomiting. Cecil's aging eyes, full of sadness and wordless anger, made me gradually forget my physical discomfort. I thought of my parents several times. Thinking about the actions that have hurt them and the unhappiness it has brought them. I also experienced the helplessness and persistence of being unable to live according to my parents' wishes and having to be "rebellious". In the film, Cecil's facial expressions are magnified countless times, from his eyes and tightly pursed lips, as if at that moment, I became him, experiencing his inner grief, indignation, forbearance, helplessness and persistence. In adhering to his life principles and pursuing a better future, he is in no way inferior to his son louis. One is to hysterically rant about an unfair society for the sake of great democratic power, and the other is to make the most powerful proof and protest for one's own life, family, and race in a silent but time-honored way, such as dripping water through stone. As a child, as a parent, as a Butler who is as unnoticed and respected as the air, the Butler has experienced his father's death, his mother's insanity, his son's violent imprisonment, and his youngest son's death in battle. In the end, the beloved passed away under the call of the years. Cecil's sadness was like a deep pool of water, silent under the silent moonlight, but could not be ignored. Joy seemed to be only a stone that occasionally fell into the water in his life, stirred up a wave for a moment, and quickly swallowed it. This is a very flat-toned movie, like a running account, about an ordinary person who works diligently like a bee and lives a down-to-earth life, an old man who does his best to strive for a better life for his family. He can be my father, my mother, anyone who lives by my side, it can be me.
Extended Reading
Lee Daniels' The Butler quotes
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Cecil Gaines: You must look through your eyes, see what it is that they want, see what it is that they need, anticipate, bring a smile to the principal's eyes.
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[last lines]
Barack Obama: We will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.