Seeking out the
5000 greatest films
in a century of cinema
The Help
Directed by
Tate Taylor
Produced by Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, and Brunson Green
Screenplay by Tate Taylor Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett
Produced by Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, and Brunson Green
Screenplay by Tate Taylor Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett
With:
Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O'Reilly, Allison Janney, Anna Camp, Eleanor Henry, Emma Henry, Chris Lowell, Cicely Tyson, Mike Vogel, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, David Oyelowo, and Ashley Johnson
Cinematography:
Stephen Goldblatt
Editing: Hughes Winborne
Music: Thomas Newman
Editing: Hughes Winborne
Music: Thomas Newman
Runtime:
146 min
Release Date: 10 August 2011
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Color: Color
Release Date: 10 August 2011
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Color: Color
The Help is one of those well-meaning films about America’s racial past that ring saccharine and false because it fails to present characters, behavior and attitudes that feel authentic to the period. Instead we get two-dimensional, cardboard-cut-outs of horribly insensitive rich white people, deeply soulful lower-class blacks, and plucky, well-meaning youth who are suppose to represent the idealized future we like to pretend we live in now. This was quite possible a fine novel--the story-lines and protagonists might have been explored far more credibly in a book--but as a movie it comes off as nothing more than a white-washing of history and a completely unchallenging feel-good film for white liberals. Some of the performances are great, but the fact black women primarily get notice and nominations for roles like these just reinforces the falseness of what this picture implies.