The Help (2011)

Admirable film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The most disappointing part about this film is that although its based around real life events it isn't a true story. There are parts that are so satisfying you can't help but wish it really happened. At its heart this is a film about human relationships and the intense bonds that are formed when people face adversity. It's a very emotionally driven film and pushes you from feeling anger, to sadness, with some delightful and even funny moments in between. The acting throughout was top notch. I particularly enjoyed the performances from Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer both played their characters perfectly. It's an ideal film for modern audiences through its combination of historical events, drama and connection to current issues. Making it an engaging film for people of all ages and walks of life. Seeing how much society has changed from the times depicted in this film you can't help but wonder what needs to happen to cause the changes we currently are in desperate need of. Also giving you a sense of hope that no matter how bad it gets humans care enough about one another to stick together and see it through

This was a great movie! I'm glad this was made. A good story that needed to be told.

Stepping out of my usual comfort zone of movies I prefer, action flicks and Westerns, this one was an insightful look into an era in the country's history that is thankfully growing older by the day. It's disturbing to see how members of a minority race were treated at one time. Having grown up in the North, the racism wasn't as blatant, although I recall the 'n' word being used rather casually by adults when I was just a kid. Somehow that just never seemed right to me.The film has it's share of characters that one will immediately come to love and hate. Bryce Dallas Howard's Hilly Holbrook appeared to be the one most likely a caricature of all that was wrong with white employers of house servants during the Sixties South. Not that there couldn't have been real employers like her, but the portrayal in the movie was certainly meant to reflect the worst of the lot. One would also have to concur that what Skeeter Phelan's (Emma Stone) Mom (Allison Janney) did when firing her own maid (Cicely Tyson) was an act of despicable cruelty.The humanity of the black maids is wonderfully portrayed relative to the humor they saw in their daily lives amid some often times dreadful conditions. With a little more work, I think that 'eat my s...' scene could have gone down as one of the classics along side say, Meg Ryan's restaurant scene in "When Harry Met Sally". As it is, there was an awful lot of payback there for Hilly Holbrook's underhanded treatment of the housemaid.Octavia Spencer took a Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson, well deserved though one can't help feel that the entire ensemble deserved as much, as recognized by the Screen Actors Guild. And though I've seen Jessica Chastain in other roles, this is the one that would put her in direct contention for portraying Marilyn Monroe should a project like that ever come along. Her resemblance and body language were uncanny.

My mother's family, with the exception of my grandfather, and I almost everyone I ever met is perfectly portrayed in their bigotry and hatred of people of color. My father, being from a Slavic country and having emigrated here after WWII, was an exception as well. Perhaps having been mocked for his accent and being old when I was born he knew how hurtful it is to treat another human being as a second class citizen for being different, even though he was white and Catholic. I was harassed for the religion I was brought up in, rather than being some form of a Protestant. Southern hospitality is a farce because as soon as you walk away from someone who is landed gentry or if they feel you're different and lesser than them in some other way, they are laughing at you and saying the meanest things they can think up. I won't live in this awful place much longer, where they pay less, hate women and the KKK and Rebel Flags still are displayed with pride. The most hateful are the women and the most violent are the men. Of course there are exceptions, but the culture of racism and sexism are still alive 50+ years since the Civil Rights Act was passed. I work in healthcare, and there are even Indian doctors who still believe in the caste system, that the disabled and mentally ill are somehow less entitled to the basic quality of service than "normal" people. But that seems to be an American standard across the country these days, especially since the most recent president was elected. There's no changing this country in my lifetime, so it's off to Europe for me.Congratulations to this cast and crew for presenting a truly realistic story of what the South was and still is like.