The Help

Almost a full rating. The Help is a film with a very strong story and a premise that has played a significant and unsavoury role in the history of the United States, yet I think it could have been executed in a much stronger and more cinematically imaginative way than Taylor did. It has everything, from brilliant actors to Newman's harmonious music, and great sets, yet it’s somehow dull and for a good part of its 140 minutes it pretends to be a gripping human drama rather than actually being one. I felt a bit as if the director was thinking more about the members of the Academy than the ordinary audience and followed a fixed and very popular template in Hollywood. But on the other hand, it works beautifully, and in tandem with all the wonderful actresses, his efforts to move and impress with the serious premise are almost 100% effective, or at least I was perfectly at home with his narrative after the slower start, when the characters begin to emerge beautifully. Unfortunately, the expected climax was somewhat disappointing, and the rush of classical sentimentality and excessive naive moralising made me groan unhappily. But in spite of its flaws and weaker moments, this was another unforgettable film that can make even lumberjacks cry just by looking at the face of the main character...Too bad. 4.5* (12/20/2012)

A must-see feel-good movie about racial issues in upper middle-class USA in the 1960s. Paradoxically, the most black and white is the dosage of emotions, which is sometimes too simplistic and for effect – the vast majority of whites are superficial scumbags and the vast majority of blacks are good and model workers. But if you overlook this creative vice of pigeonholing characters in an otherwise interesting story, you get a number of scenes with a huge range of emotions that can grab you by the heart and move you appropriately. An intense viewing experience, a stimulating Oscar-winning film with a stellar cast and deservedly positive reviews. (11/29/2022)

It's not as unequivocally great as, say, Spielberg's The Color Purple, but it's more than good enough. And not black and white at all. The script artfully mixes poignant stories with sensitive humor and doesn't need to show violence and other atrocities (which it certainly could have shown) to tell us what it wants to tell us. Moreover, it is not only about the theme of different skin colors, but also a pretty good critique of interpersonal and family relationships... You almost get the feeling that this film has everything. Including the somewhat bitter ending, which is even harsher in the book (and should have been in the film, see the omitted scenes on the DVD). Both of the main black actresses were amazing, and I really liked Emma Stone too, but I was absolutely thrilled with Jessica Chastain! The story of her uniquely acted character, about whom I didn't know what to think at first, ended up impressing me the most. Two hours and twenty minutes passed by like an hour and a half. (08/04/2013)

The Czech title is a diagnosis. Exactly: a black-and-white world, to the extent that if one wanted to nag, one could write something about political correctness shifting to inverted racism: white women are stupid, superficial, incapable of emotional and practical life. The black servants resemble a kind of super-ego - wise, kind, contemplative, parental, holding all the functions that their social "superiors" lack. It is also interesting in that those who are not "racists" in the film - aside from the main heroine - they are characters who are either enormously stupid (Celia) or sick (old Holbrooke), or absent (men, probably... some of them). Clearly, it is not the creative intent that Tate Taylor pursued godly goals, but as history teaches us - black-and-white worlds sometimes inadvertently subvert themselves, too much for clarity (see my favorite social realism). Black and white worlds also require a very conservative form, settled characters and a very limited ability to reflect on problems. This film does not reflect the essence of racism, but rather the simplified effort of the current "white" civilization to name old wrongs in a cultured way. There is no doubt that if this phenomenon were simplified to the level portrayed in Taylor's film, it would have been resolved long ago. But I take The Help as it is: at its core, a pleasant, cultivated tale of the battle between good and evil, surrounded by something from the grandeur of our grandmothers' wisdom and arthritic sentiment. Thanks to the episode with shit, the effort for a little rougher moments and a quite pleasant pace, I give it a star more than the whiny sentimental The Descendants. At their core, however, these are completely identical types of films. Designed for self-redeeming emotion and numb forgetfulness. A cultural symptom. (01/22/2012)

Yeah, this is the kind of politically correct, high-minded Oscar safe bet where pretty much all the black characters can be compared to the greatest philosophers in history thanks to their human (popular) wisdom, but I can’t help it, I really liked it. In its 146 minutes, it has charm, is entertaining, and has good performances, direction and script. It was nice, but at the Oscars I will root for someone else. (12/02/2011)