Yes, being a bit biased as I've not seen the other films, but "The Help" is by far...one of the best adaptations of a movie from a book I've seen in a long time and I really want it to win Best Picture. It's been a really long times since I've seen a good much less an amazing adaption from book to film; save the "Harry Potter" flicks. But again, I'm biased! LOL!
"The Help" is about life in the south during the turbulant pre-civil right's era of the early 1960s. It touches on hardship negro maids and their over-indulged and "Scarlett O'Hara-esque" white employers as well as historical happenings, IE, the assassinations of Kennedy and Medgar Evers to name a few. The movie makes it a point not to overtly shove the segregation of the races during that time... yet makes it's point, thus not giving you the "oh good grief! Another sappy anti-racism messege." It's insightful, it's realistic, and it's beautifully done.
But it ain't like the book! The book is AMAZING! I laughed out loud, I cried..yes! I straight-up cried. And I could not put the darn thing down! Had to read it twice actually. And for obvious reasons re: movie production costs, time limits, etc...a lot of the book wasn't in the movie. So you just have to get thee to your local bookstore and get it! It's very well worth it and an amazing fact the author Kathryn Stockett was rejected by almost every publishing house she approached. But finally, just like JK Rowling, someone gave her a break...and a wonderful break it is for this first time novel.
Read "The Help," and watch "The Help" and enjoy it! I know you will!
