The Help

I thought this would be a boring drama, and I told myself I’d stop watching if I wasn’t entertained by the first ten minutes. Surprisingly, I never stopped. When I first heard about this movie, I asked what it was about, and learned it was about negroe househelp, and that it starred Emma Stone. At first I thought it would be a period film, set in the same period as Amistad, with Emma Stone as the white mistress over black slaves.

Then I discovered that it was a fairly modern movie, set during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Of course it had to be modern, because the word used was “help” and not “slave”.

Also, fried chicken.

But then, after watching the film, how much has the treatment of African-Americans changed since the slave trade all the way to the death of Dr. Martin Luther King? Practically no difference at all.

Good redemption for Jessia Chastain, who needed a career boost after starring in the ultra-boring The Tree of Life. This film has been receiving a lot of Oscar buzz, and rightly so. The Academy loves movies like this. And it actually brought tears to my eyes, although I didn’t sob like a sissy (but I was secretly hoping I would). Anyway, I’m placing my bets on Oscar nominations for Octavia Spencer, who plays Minny, the baker of the best pies in Jackson, Mississippi,

"Y'all gonna give me that nomination, bitches."

and for Bryce Dallas Howard, for eating the best pie in Jackson, Mississippi (and also for being a total bitch).

Bryce Dallas Howard's Oscar clip.

The Help. USA. 2011.



Rating: Eight point two out of ten.




*some info from IMDb
GIFs from VLC