The Help, written
and directed by Tate Taylor and based on the popular best seller by Kathryn
Stockett, is a do-gooder drama that thinks it’s treating important subject
matter with great care, but actually does a horrible disservice to history, the
Civil Rights Movement, and all the people who played a role (many of whom game
their lives) in it. That said, it’s worth noting that there is a huge disparity
between the kind of film Dreamworks has chosen to advertise with the trailers
and the actual film that Taylor made.
The adverts would have us think The Help is a comedy with some dramatic elements, treating Jackson,
Mississippi, cerca 1963 as a hotbed of sassy black women and comical white
racists. I was genuinely surprised to find that it’s not until the final 30
minutes or so of this overlong 140 minute film that it devolves into cheap
laughs. As a matter of fact, the bulk of the film is built on a foundation of
real drama, mostly provided by the astounding performances of Octavia Spencer,
Viola Davis, and Cicely Tyson.
