Select language, opens an overlay

Comment

Jan 29, 2017TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The Help is an amazing movie; the plot, acting, and overall dedication of detail in this film are flawless. This movie focuses on the role of black women in the 1960s, outlining their work as housekeepers for white families. As an audience, we are able to see how poorly the black community is treated, despite completing all of the household chores (including cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children) for those that they work for, and how low they are looked upon by the white community. We see how little they are paid for their overwhelming amounts of work, how much effort they put in to make an earning, as well as how many sacrifices they must make within their own households and with their own families, only to receive little to no appraisal. This historical-type film does a great job at highlighting some of the issues that the black community faced during this time period, and although many things have changed since then, there is still a long way to go. I personally believe that everyone should watch this movie at least once, as it is important to amplify black voices and experiences. 5/5 -@roselilly04 of the Hamilton Public Library's Teen Review Board Marginalization is a terrible evil and nowhere is this more poignantly expressed than in the movie, The Help. The movie focuses on the lives of the black helps and their white employers in a Southern America that is still under the influence of the Jim Crow laws. It explores the relationships that form between an empathetic young white woman and two black helps as they undertake the daunting and illegal prospect of writing a collection of the experiences of the helps in Mississippi. The movie also focuses almost exclusively on women, having few male actors and none that star prominently. Viola Davis fails to disappoint in her role as Aibileen, a black help who has raised the children of many of her employers even after she loses her son. She helps to communicate the emotional burden of being a black help amidst all the crushing racism even as Olivia Spencer portrays the more humorous role as Minny, Aibileen's friend. Perhaps what is most memorable is  the scene in which Minny serves her former employer a baked pie filled with her own excrement and utters words immemorial "eat my shit". The movie which is based on a novel of the the same name by Kathryn Stockett is a fantastic work, beautifully written and excellently portrayed. - @TheEccentric of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library