joshfedderson
My wife read this book for a college class and she loved it. The I told her my mom had the movie and she wanted to watch it after she read the book. She invited me to watch it with her, and I have to say I loved it from start to finish.This is a story about prejudice, hate, anger, love, sadness, courage, and doing the right thing. It takes place in the south during 1960 a time of racism and violence, a time when Martin Luther King Jr did his famous march for African American rights. A time when blacks were still considered the lowest of the low. The story is about two African American women and a white writer, together they collect stories about how abusive, rude, and cruel the white society of the south really could be. I am a big history buff, and I know of the times of the 1960's. This movie rings true to everything that went on in the south during this time. Having had parents that grew up during this time but not in the south they knew of this. The reason it is called the help is because it is about a group of African American house keepers the serve high white southern society, who basically raise their children for them because their mothers are to busy with social matters. As I watched the film it struck me hard, how could these mothers just abandon their children? These African American women basically raise them and these children look to them as mothers and caretakers, and when they leave or get fired these children miss them so much. The white writer who is played well by Emma Stone was basically raised by one, and is planning to write a book about these caretakers stories. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will cheer when good things come about. I loved the character Minnie and her sassyness and attitude she was my favorite character, though I liked all of them, I didn't like Bryce Dallas Howard's character Hilly, she was a stuck up, rude, snobbish, evil character who disgusted me throughout the entire movie. You cheer inside when the good characters triumph over her. This film also will open your eyes to what really went on during the south during the civil rights movement. For my generation I do believe this film needs to be watched and understood and after watching this movie I started asking my parents who were just barely teenagers at this time lots and lots of questions. And I also want to read the book. Racism still goes on today though not as big as it was back then. I invite you to watch this movie, your eyes will be opened and you will enjoy it too. You will get an appreciation that we are all people and that You is kind, You is smart, and You is important. 10/10 for The Help
DailyMovieGoer
Watched The Help the other night again after first seeing it a half dozen years ago and before so much of the press as of late. The Help tries to hint at the real cultural divide between the black and white communities yet in a very watered down manner, but the focus was spot on regarding where the control really was; the white women. My grandmother grew up in this crowd and played the game well. Had her own man, a grounds keeper and knew how to manage the near enslavement relationship they had at the time. We only knew the man as John; no last name or where he lived or that he even had a family. Then one day, in my home town, during my grandmother's life, a white woman got mad at a black man and over the next few days, every black-owned building and home, about a thousand, was burned to the ground with nearly the same number dead. As our main character was delivering her pie in appeasement to her master, she knew what the downside might be like and she was no fool. While the movie makes her out to be clever and brave, most of the black community of the day was deferential out of necessity for survival.Try not to think of this movie as a real reflection of the time; had it tried to be so, it would never have been released, however, it was a good attempt at starting a conversation of the over-privileged nature, and outright cruelty of the white-woman of the day, which, actually, still persists.
