Review of The Help (2011) by Skantea — 09 Jan 2012

"To Kill a Mockingbird" came out 50 years ago and the film (and most likely the novel) are far superior to this film in every way. It wouldn't be fair to compare this to such an obvious classic except for the fact that I keep hearing rumors of it being Oscar worthy. The classic film, of course, has the iconic 'white savior' played by Gregory Peck, but the character is portrayed as a complex man of pure ethics grappling with the issues of his time in a way that isn't clueless about his actions and understands full well the danger he's placing himself and his family in when he decides to cross the hard coded color lines. This Skeeter character is more concerned with advancing her career by being controversial than making real change. In short this film is a Disnified version of 1960's race relations, pretty to look at and light on meaning.

And if you haven't seen "To Kill a Mockingbird", do it ASAP. You'll be shocked at how it doesn't hesitate to challenge the audience. After all this time it still has the power to really make you think about Race and Class.