Optional Assignment-Reviewing "The Help"

The Help(2011)

PG-13, 2 hr. 17 min.
Drama

Directed By:Tate Taylor

Written By:Tate Taylor
DreamWorks

Last Sunday, I watched "The Help" at the Megabox theater in COEX with my mom. Overall impression of this movie is that it makes people cry at some particular scenes, and it eventually makes people hopeful. "The Help" makes people think about ourselves and lingers for a long time.

The background of The Help is Mississippi in the 1960's. At that time, entire states except for Mississippi were undergoing groundbreaking changes due to many anti-racil discrimination protests. Still, racial discrimination and violating African Americans' rights were privalent in Mississippi.  Aibileen is the protagonist, who represents the African Americans in the movie. She is a black housekeeper, who has raised 32 white children, but could not look after her own kid. Her mind has been hurt badly by ignorant and biased white people, but she has never attempted to question the reality or to fight for her rights before Skeeter appears. Skeeter is an educated white woman who dreams to become a writer. She wants to write something revolutionary, so she decides to write a story about the help. Aibileen was at first afraid of helping Skeeter, but she starts to be more courageous.

Racial discrimination issue has been already discussed by many other films and documentaries. Only the events that convey the theme differ. The Help uses the events of African American housekeepers in particular. I thought these events  were impressive because it enabled the movie to dramatically contrast African American mothers and white mothers. It is very ironic that African American housekeepers were busy taking care of rich white chilldren, but cannot spend time with their own children. On the other hand, white women thought having a child is a proof of successful marriage, but they were too young and self-centered to sacrifice themselves to raise children. The rich used their wealth to spend more time for themselves, but as consequences, the poor was taken away their time to spend with their family.

I was also impressed by the way the director organized the story. While I was watching the film, I felt like I am reading a book; in fact, The Help is based on a novela. Generally, the film was in chronological order, but some of the scenes came out before and were connected later. Also, the director does not explain a lot, but I could imagine illustration or dialogues, that would appear if it was a novel. I think this way of expression is effective because audiences can imagine the moods from atmosphere or actors' behavior without hearing direct explanation.

Nevertheless, The Help was "fair" but not very innovative. The movie made some clever trials to move the audience's mind and to give a final lesson, which is very acceptable. Nonetheless, the movie was like a tale for children, which clearly devides the characters into angels and evils. Some of the critics said that none of the characters in The Help are realistic, and I agree with that opinion. If the characters were more dynamic, it would be more realistic. For example, the director could have questioned if all whites were discriminating colored due to biased and irrational reasons. I think most people do not argue about the theme because nowadays it is too obvious that racial discrimination is not acceptable. However, back in the 1960's, people did not think that was obvious, so the movie would have been much better if it delt with the theme from deeper and more diverse points of view.

★★★★★ : acting

★★★ : theme

★★★★★ : development of the plot

★★★★ : entertainment

average : 4.25/5