"The Help"

I don't normally go to see movies like "The Help." If I am forced to go, I generally see movies like this at the behest of a female and so it was, I found myself watching this movie.

Watching the Iowa Straw Poll this weekend was hardly riveting. Forgive my deviation here...

The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi. I have been to Jackson, Ms. and I do not remember it being as lovely as this movie portrays it. In fact, I thought Jackson was downright nasty when I was there in 2005. At any rate, this is a movie about black maids, or "The Help", and the white families that they worked for. It is set in the 50's and 60's. Perhaps Jackson was prettier then.

The movie and characters are well developed. There is some drama, racism, history, and humor. This movie is excellent. Anytime the people in the theater start clapping at the end of a movie- that is a pretty good indication that they liked the movie.

The best part about this film was the courage it took for the people involved to tell their stories. Telling the truth is often courageous and not without repercussions. Telling the truth tends to piss people off- particularly those people who have acted improperly. They don't want people to know the truth.

This movie has a wide zone of appeal. It's a hard movie not to like. I think you'll like it. It was rejected by 60 agents which just goes to show you....how well one group thinks for the rest of us. From wiki:

The novel is Stockett's first. It took her five years to complete the book, which was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett.^[4][5] The Help has since been published in 35 countries and three languages.^[6] As of August 2011, it has sold five million copies and has spent more than a 100 weeks on the The New York Times Best Seller list.^[7][8]