August 16, 2011

Movie Review: The Help

However great the book The Help is, that's how good the movie is. It's rare for a movie to be as good as the book it's based on, but a special treat when that happens. The trailer for The Help makes it look like a comedy, which made me not want to see it, but fortunately I saw it anyway. It's not a comedy, altho there are some funny parts, but it holds true to the elemental story of the book - race relations in the 60s.

Watching the atrocities that were visited on black people in those days will bring tears to your eyes, especially if you were alive then and know how factual it is. It's hard to imagine that it's possible, but it is.
Viola Davis is brilliant. She's such a subtle actor, letting her face tell the story. Octavia Spencer is really good as Minnie - all of the performances are wonderful; Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard...
It's a moving story and a faithful adaptation of an amazing book. Read the book and then see the movie, or vice versa, it doesn't really matter, but you should do both.
Four and a half out of five stars for The Help.

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