The Help Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: The Help

Year: 2011
Country: U.S
Language: English

There’s something I’ve never understood about film. Why can a film regarding black enslavement be a light comedy whereas a film about the holocaust always has to be extremely serious. I am not suggesting that the Holocaust be satirized or joked about but there needs to be some consistency. Black slavery and segregation was a horrible thing that still affects white and black relations today. It was not taken “lightly”, I’m sure no black person ever thought it was funny when they were raped by their white masters, forced to pick cotton all day for no pay, and whipped whenever they strayed from their duties. The suffering of the black man should not be perceived as less than the suffering of the Jews, both were horribly mistreated.

The Help is a disgustingly safe film about a subject that should not be taken lightly. I am sick of light hearted comedies about an era engulfed in complete darkness. It’s completely repulsive and sickening to the stomach, Martin Luther King would definitely have a fit about this to. It is 2011’s white guilt fantasy, that somehow has the idiotic show white people in a decent light. Yes, during the slavery period not all the white people were bad but most of them were and I don’t think there needs to be any more “white hero” films. I feel this “white hero” mindset does not advance society in anyway, I think it leaves more room for hate and self entitlement. We, the whites, need to save them because we are more sophisticated. It’s some macho bullshit superiority game.

The story centers on our “white hero” Skeeter Phalan (Emma Stone) when she graduates college and finds out that she doesn’t hate black people like all the others around her. Her family has two black maids named Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer). White people are dicks yadda yadda, Aibileen and Minny are mad yadda yadda. Skeeter, the white girl who doesn’t hate black people, writes a book about black people’s feelings . As she writes the book she becomes more frustrated about the mistreatment of black people. Thus it is up to this white woman to make sure the black people’s stories are heard. Sorry, but this is bullshit.

The film has great performances out of the cast, and perhaps the film is well meaning, but it’s safe and typical. The film does nothing, besides the shit pie scene, to separate itself from any other mediocre racism film I’ve seen. It’s about pain but doesn’t go far enough.  It’s a “feel good” film that left me wondering why I watched it in the first place. There is not truth in this film, it hardly makes amends for the cruelty that we’ve done. It’s fake, overdone and rotten to the core. Perhaps not every film should be serious, but I feel it’s about time that white people started taking films about slavery in a serious way. It’s 2012. Grow up!

In conclusion, I hope “white hero” superiority exploitation films die out immediately. This has been done over and over and over. Yes there’s great acting but acting cannot save this film. This film exploited the dark era of slavery to make money. It lacks the intelligence to be anything but a child’s film. I’m sick of it, the world is sick of it. Malcolm X would be spinning in his grave if he saw this film. Piss on it! 1/5

Next 5 Reviews:
1. Hugo- 2011
2. Moneyball- 2011
3. Ides of March- 2011
4. Midnight in Paris- 2011
5. Hunger Games- 2012