The Butler

[Ricordanza]

The Butler is a very good, but not great film featuring Forest Whitaker in a terrific performance as a White House butler who served from the Eisenhower to Reagan administrations and experienced on several levels the upheaval in race relations and civil rights through those years. Many emotional moments and fine performances, including the welcome return to the screen of Oprah Winfrey, as the butler's wife.

But for CMG members, I must take note that the sound track of the film begins with the Schumann Piano Concerto! Although I love the piece, its connection to the film is dubious. since the opening scene depicts a horrible event: Whitaker's character, as a boy on a Georgia cotton plantation, witnessing the rape of his mother by the plantation owner's son and the murder of his father when he protests. A few other samples of classical music appear in the film, including a scene where Pablo Casals performs at the invitation of JFK and Jackie.

P.S. Out of curiosity, I looked up the full credits for this film and found that the piano soloist for the Schumann was one Gerald Robbins. I had never heard of him, so I did some further digging an found this bio:
http://www.msmnyc.edu/FacultyBio/fid/1008173009

Walter Klien (who I had heard of) is another pianist listed in the credits.