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"The Maids Tell All"
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The Help is the best film I have seen this year
-
Aug 15, 2011
- by RobertYokoyama
- posted in Movie Hype
Rating:
+5
The Help is the best film I have seen this year. This film is about the examples of accepted racism in the early sixties, but it is also about the friendship between women. I like the way director Tate Taylor deals with both subjects equally well.
There is a very beautiful song included in the movie. It is entitled "The Living Proof". It is performed by R and B singer Mary J. Blige. This is such a moving song about enduring hard times but still having a sense of dignity about life. The soundtrack also includes classic songs by Chubby Checker and Frankie Valli, but the new Blige song is definitely the highlight in regards to the music.
The performances by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are excellent. They are two black maids who both work for white families. They cook, clean and raise other people's children. These maids do their jobs do their jobs with such dignity. I admire these fictional characters. They seem like real people to me. These actresses bring the characters of a novel to life on screen. Emma Stone plays an aspiring writer who documents the experiences of these two women in a book entitled The Help. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a racist white woman. Jessica Chastain plays another white female character with a much softer heart. Sissy Spacek gives the movie a humorous element with her performance. I laughed and cried watching The Help. The Help is an excellent film.
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djevoke
August 16, 2011
Yay! I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie and reading the book. I'm so glad that you liked it :)
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devora
August 15, 2011
This sounds like a really good one, Robert. Thanks for sharing!
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More The Help reviews
**1/2 out of **** During the early 1960's - at the time of the Civil Rights era - there were the upper class men and women, and then there were the Help. Who, and what, was "the help", exactly? Why, they were the household labor force, consisting entirely of blacks. Most of them were women. They acted as maids, servants, and perhaps even slaves to their superiors/employers; obeying every last order in fear of being disciplined if they failed to adhere. They lived dangerous … more
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Compliments (12)
Starting with a sensational cast and a talented director, The Help unveils the most usual and common racial theme in a customized manor. It transcends from being dramatic, powerful and heartbreaking to being funny, excentric and flamboyant in an unique and hilarious way. While it depicts a warm and thoughtful story about the 1960s racial era in Mississippi in which strong black women were treated so harsh by their "employers", The Help succeeds in being mature in a childish … more
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Compliments (36)
Based in the racially charged Deep South during the sixties The Help takes a look at the perspective of the hired help and what they were forced to grin and take during Jim Crow. The heart of the story is in the right place. Everything else seems to be scattered from the emotion to the narrator. This fluctuation may work for a book but in the movie the story seems to be all over the place. The story itself is very convincing and connects itself to the audience. … more
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Compliments (42)
The year is 1963, and Skeeter returns from college to find life as usual among her privileged set. She’s the only one in the Junior League who notices that the black servants must silently endure insults and degradation at the hands of their oblivious employers. She decides to write a book about how the help really feel about their jobs and asks to interview several maids. This is socially risky for Skeeter and seriously dangerous for the maids. I loved the book and was glad that … more
Comments (2)
Compliments (9)
Star Rating: The Help is extraordinary in the way it evokes an era and explores an unspoken but well-understood social order, specifically in regards to race relations. It takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, at which point the Jim Crow laws were still in effect – the segregation of public schools, public transportation, restrooms, restaurants, drinking fountains, movie theater entrances, and even the U.S. military. During this time, … more
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Compliments (36)
THE HELP Written and Directed by Tate Taylor Starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer Aibileen: What if you don't like what I got to say 'bout white people? Jackson, Mississippi has a rich history but it certainly also has its fair share of shame. Great turmoil does however make for great drama in novice filmmaker, Tate Taylor’s THE HELP, based on the wildly popular novel of the … more
Comments (5)
Compliments (24)
I never ever watch these type of movies, but last weekend my surplus of redbox rental codes and lack of movie selection lead me to rent The Help. I'd heard all the good things about it while it was in theaters and still put it on the back burner. I'm glad i did finally give it a chance though, because it was an amazing movie! Its been a while since i watched a movie that held my full attention for the entire runtime. Needless to say i will be adding this to my movie collection this weekend.
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Compliments (3)
Every once in a while a movie comes along that completely transcends entertainment. Based on a novel I've not read, The Help adds one more layer to the Civil Rights movement. The hardworking layer of the African American maids who lovingly raised the children of their employers and then suffered many of those same children growing into bigoted adults. Stories are shared, lives explored, attitudes revealed and the fictional account is likely just a tiny shadow of reality. … more
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Compliments (12)
About the reviewer
Robert Yokoyama (RobertYokoyama)
Ranked #58
Ranked #58
I love to read new books and talk about them. I also like to listen to different kinds of music and talk about that. I am a friendly guy who likes to meet new people. I love to read books that teach me … more
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About this movie
There are male viewers who will enjoyThe Help, but Mississippi native Tate Taylor aims his adaptation squarely at the female readers who made Kathryn Stockett's novel a bestseller. If the multi-character narrative revolves around race relations in the Kennedy-era South, the perspective belongs to the women. Veteran maid Aibileen (Doubt's Viola Davis in an Oscar-worthy performance) provides the heartfelt narration that brackets the story. A widow devastated by the death of her son, she takes pride in the 17 children she has helped to raise, but she's hardly fulfilled. That changes when Skeeter (Easy A's Emma Stone) returns home after college. Unlike her peers, Skeeter wants to work, so she gets a job as a newspaper columnist. But she really longs to write about Jackson's domestics, so she meets with Aibileen in secret--after much cajoling and the promise of anonymity. When Aibileen's smart-mouthed friend Minny (breakout star Octavia Spencer) breaches her uptight employer's protocol, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) gives her the boot, and she ends up in the employ of local outcast Celia (Jessica Chastain, hilarious and heartbreaking), who can't catch a break due to her dirt-poor origins. After the murder of Medgar Evers, even more maids, Minny among them, bring their stories to Skeeter, leading to a book that scandalizes the town--in a good way. Not sinceSteel Magnoliashas Hollywood produced a Southern woman's picture more likely to produce ...
Movies, Drama, Review, Julian Left, Jessica Chastain, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help, Sissy Spacek, Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis
Cast:
Sissy Spacek,
Mike Vogel,
Allison Janney,
Bryce Dallas Howard,
Viola Davis,
Emma Stone,
Jessica Chastain,
Chris Lowell,
Octavia Spencer,
Anna Camp
Director:
Tate Taylor
Genre:
Drama
Release Date:
12 August 2011 (USA)
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Screen Writer:
Tate Taylor,
Kathryn Stockett
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