This along with The Godfather is another movie that I have heard so much about.  Unfortunately I was absent and therefor missed the entire second half of the movie meaning I will have to rent it and finish watching it some time in the near future.  I am honestly kind of sad because of how many good things I have heard about the movie.  When I left I was at the part where JFK had been assassinated meaning I had already witnessed the conflict between the butler and his son.  That was what was interesting to me in that while both wanted greater rights they sought to achieve this goal through very different means. 
The content can still apply today in two different ways.  The first and most obvious being that it reminds of the racism of the past so that we can see it more clearly in the present.  The other way that the content continues to apply is that it raises the question of how to protest injustice, should we take a direct stand as did the son or a more subtle approach as did the father?  Personally I agree at least for the most part, with the son.
As I said before I only was in class for the first half and therefor I may have made a mistake about the movie as a whole.