The Butler certainly feels like an important film. Based (loosely) on the life of Eugene Allen, the story tells of White House butler Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), who served eight US Presidents, from Eisenhower in the 1950s through to Regan in the 1980s.

The focus of the film is the development of the civil rights movement and the (at times brutal) struggle black Americans went through in the decades following the abolition of slavery. Cecil experiences this fight as both a (at first) neutral observer of the actions of successive presidents and as a concerned father whose eldest son Louis (David Oyelowo) becomes increasingly active in the movement.

Following a harrowing opening sequence in which we see Cecil as a child growing up as part of a slave family on a cotton farm in Georgia, we trace his journey from fancy southern hotels all the way to the White House. From then on, we are carried on a veritable canter through the major events of recent US history; from segregation and the Freedom Riders, through the Vietnam war, the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King, the rise of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, and even US reaction to South African apartheid. Phew.

If that sounds like a lot of ground to cover in a two-hour-plus film, you’d be right.

The result of cramming so much history into such a short space of time is that it becomes too simplified and truncated. One entertaining aspect of the film is seeing the different portrayals of the US presidents. However, because of the time constraints, each only enjoys a handful of scenes (if that), which only works to render each a caricature.

Nixon (John Cusack, yes really) is all slimy insincerity, while JFK (James Marsden) practically glows with goodness. Elsewhere we have an uncouth LBJ (Liev Schreiber) and a steely-eyed Regan (Alan Rickman, yes really, again) extending a hand of friendship to Cecil, whilst using the other to veto sanctions against South Africa over its treatment of its black population.

Throw in the main emotional thrust of the story, which is Cecil’s relationship with his two sons and devoted wife, Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) and it almost feels like two films have been grafted together.

A further result of this simplification is that certain plot developments feel a touch mechanical. For example, whilst Louis is actively fighting against his own country, Cecil’s younger son, Charlie (Elijah Kelley), eagerly signs up to fight for his country in Vietnam. Issues such as Gloria’s alcoholism also seem like mere footnotes as the story finally reaches the momentous events of 2008 when Obama was elected the first black president; an event Cecil, along with millions of others, never thought they would live to see.

Had writer Danny Strong and director Lee Daniels envisioned this as, for example, a TV mini-series, much more detail could have been added in to form a fuller picture of what life was like for black Americans in each era and to highlight the political tightrope certain presidents had to walk in order to bring about positive change.

However, despite all this, the film does manage to remain emotionally engaging throughout. Scenes of the horrific treatment meted out to black Americans are truly gut-wrenching, especially the reaction of the local bigots (and police) when a group of black students have the audacity to sit at the counter in the ‘whites only’ section of a cafeteria.

The odd miscast president or two notwithstanding, The Butler also contains some wonderful performances. Winfrey is majestic as the strong woman struggling to keep her family together while fighting her own demons. Britain’s own Oyelowo is also highly effective as a man who rejects his family’s principles in order to fight (and potentially) die for his beliefs, while Kelley also provides some spark as a grown-up Charlie. The supporting cast, especially Cuba Gooding, Jr as a fellow White House butler, are also excellent and there are few ‘is that really…?’ moments along the way as familiar faces crop up unexpectedly.

At the centre of The Butler is a low-key but powerful performance by Whitaker. Gaines is an (initially) apolitical man who credits his whole standard of life to working for the white man (“and not just any white man”) in a job that allowed him to buy a nice house and give his kids the education he was denied, but who gets increasingly drawn into the fight for equality. This comes through in several scenes where the black White House staff demand equal pay (they are paid 40% less than their white counterparts) but are continually denied this simple right by the successive administrations.

Overall, while The Butler covers a lot of interesting ground, it just covers way too much of it for its running time. Based on a Washington Post article (“A Butler Well Served by This Election” by Will Haygood), The Butler is very much a ‘Hollywood does history’ exercise, but it’s hard to deny that, in its truncated way, this is a movie with an lot of important things to say. It just says them way too fast.

(Incidentally, the film is officially named Lee Daniels’ The Butler due to legal wrangling over the title, rather than director hubris.)

Take a look at the trailer: