The Butler (2013)

Frederick Douglass described the difference between a slave that works in the field and one that works in the house in his classic 'Narrative of the Life of an American Slave'.  This movie uses the real life story of Eugene Allen (made into the fictional character of Cecil Gaines in this rendition) to explore the centuries-old split between what has become of House Negroes (the middle class African American) and Field Negroes (the working class/underclass African American), and about the civil rights struggles beginning in the 1950's and continuing into the Vietnam Era.

Cecil (Forrest Whitaker)starts off life as a field hand, working with his parents in a cotton field somewhere in the South.  His life changes the day his mother is raped by a white owner's son while her husband and son, as well as the owner herself witness it.  Cecil's father is shot dead for protesting, and as some sort of an apology, Cecil is taken in by the elderly land owner to be taught to be a House Negro.  He learns that task well enough to be eventually taken on the White House staff as a butler, where he serves under, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.  The lesson that he learned very early on was that he should largely keep his opinions to himself, which explains his survival in politics throughout both Republican and Democratic presidencies.

Juxtaposed against Cecil's portrayal of the compliant black man is his son's work as first a Freedom Rider, then a Black Panther, and finally as a progressive politician.  He gets to voice the angry man's impatience about the progress that civil rights changes made over the same period of time, and he does not have to listen politely to the racism of politicians as Cecil does.  The final counter piece is Oprah Winfrey's portrayal as Cecil's wife, who uses alcohol to manage the gap between the tow.  It is a very good film when all is said and done.