|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
There are male viewers who will enjoy The Help, but Mississippi native Tate Taylor aims his adaptation squarely at the female readers who made Kathryn Stockett's novel a bestseller. If the multi-character narrative revolves around race relations in the Kennedy-era South, the perspective belongs to the women. Veteran maid Aibileen (Doubt's Viola Davis in an Oscar-worthy performance) provides the heartfelt narration that brackets the story. A widow devastated by the death of her son, she takes pride in the 17 children she has helped to raise, but she's hardly fulfilled. That changes when Skeeter (Easy A's Emma Stone) returns home after college. Unlike her peers, Skeeter wants to work, so she gets a job as a newspaper columnist. But she really longs to write about Jackson's domestics, so she meets with Aibileen in secret--after much cajoling and the promise of anonymity. When Aibileen's smart-mouthed friend Minny (breakout star Octavia Spencer) breaches her uptight employer's protocol, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) gives her the boot, and she ends up in the employ of local outcast Celia (Jessica Chastain, hilarious and heartbreaking), who can't catch a break due to her dirt-poor origins. After the murder of Medgar Evers, even more maids, Minny among them, bring their stories to Skeeter, leading to a book that scandalizes the town--in a good way. Not since Steel Magnolias has Hollywood produced a Southern woman's picture more likely to produce buckets of tears (and almost as many laughs). --Kathleen C. Fennessy
DVD Description
The #1 New York Times bestseller by Kathryn Stockett comes to vivid life through the powerful performances of a phenomenal ensemble cast. Led by Emma Stone, Academy Award®-nominated Viola Davis (Best Supporting Actress, Doubt, 2008), Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help is an inspirational, courageous and empowering story about very different, extraordinary women in the 1960s South who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project — one that breaks society’s rules and puts them all at risk. Filled with poignancy, humor and hope — and complete with compelling, never-before-seen bonus features — The Help is a timeless, universal and triumphant story about the ability to create change.
Audio languages: English, Italian, Spanish, Audio Described English
Special Features:
Audio languages: English, Italian, Spanish, Audio Described English
Special Features:
- The Making of The Help: From Friendship to Film
- In Their Own Words: A Tribute to the Maids of Mississippi
- Deleted Scenes with introductions by director Tate Taylor - A Senator’s Son; Humiliated; Johnny’s Home; A Book about Jackson; Keep on Walkin’
- “The Living Proof” Music Video
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Was at the cinema yesterday and had a great experience with this film. Loved it so much - lots of laughter as well as tears - very emotional and lovely and it was entertaining through all two and a half hours. People laughed out loud and you could hear sniffling in the emotional parts. The actors acted so well and the filming was wonderful and the music so underlined the era and the story from the original book was followed as expected, altogether making it a memorable evening with colleagues. I will definitively watch it at least one more time - to get all the details and enjoy the film all over.
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When I was invited to a preview screening of The Help earlier in the year, I was unsure of what to expect. This may be easier to understand when one takes into consideration that Walt Disney Studios are responsible for the distribution of a film that is targeted at the older woman, the single hardest demographic to coax into cinema screens presently. Having read the book, (read review here) I knew the director had a lot to prove. As a fan I was wary yet excited at the evolution of this great book and the reception it's had worldwide. It is an unfortunate truth that Hollywood rarely makes the most of the projects it gets it's hands on, in terms of quality at least thus, the concern for an international bestseller making its way into the lap of Disney is an obvious worry.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. The film is a well-constructed piece that remains loyal to Stockett's text and demonstrates the fear, discrimination and seething hatred that seems to have been so apparent during the 1960's of KKK riddled Jackson, Mississippi in a clear and poignant way. In contrast to other reviewers critiques, I did not find the film overly sentimental or sappy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Tate Taylor is to be credited for the realism he has managed to instill in the direction and in the screenplay, which he adopted from Stockett's text. For me, there were several outstanding performances, especially Octavia Spencer as outspoken Minny Jackson, the maid who rises above her many unfortunate choices in employer.
See full review here: [...]
However, I was pleasantly surprised. The film is a well-constructed piece that remains loyal to Stockett's text and demonstrates the fear, discrimination and seething hatred that seems to have been so apparent during the 1960's of KKK riddled Jackson, Mississippi in a clear and poignant way. In contrast to other reviewers critiques, I did not find the film overly sentimental or sappy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Tate Taylor is to be credited for the realism he has managed to instill in the direction and in the screenplay, which he adopted from Stockett's text. For me, there were several outstanding performances, especially Octavia Spencer as outspoken Minny Jackson, the maid who rises above her many unfortunate choices in employer.
See full review here: [...]
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
I watched this film whilst flying from the UK to the US last week [November 2011]. I found it completely absorbing, convincingly portrayed by the cast and moving to the point of tears. I watched; I listened; I saw; I heard; I laughed; I cried. A life-changing film. First class!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Help DVD versus the Audio book
Great film, very well acted, funny, sad and heart warming, can definitely recommend. However listening to the audio book was amazing, great narrator, well worth buying.
Published 3 days ago by Ann Kendrick
the help
loved this film sad in parts but also funny in parts loved the secret ingriedient part watch it to understand for older children and adults
Published 6 days ago by carolejuliepn
Fabulous
I loved the book so I was looking forward to the film. I'm pleased to say I was not disappointed. The film is very true to the original story. Read more
Published 8 days ago by S. A. Green
Truly Amazing
I was determined to read the book first, and was glad that I did. The book was truly absorbing, fascinating, and with all the emotions. Read more
Published 9 days ago by kandajazz
The Help is one of the great films
I didnt get to see this film in the cimeama when it was released but i was eager to see what the storyline was all about. Read more
Published 15 days ago by ronnyd
The Help
This was an excellent film. Hard to believe that this was all going on during my life time. It was both educating and informative. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Mrs. P. A. Millard
The Help - DVD
This film - like the book on whioh it is based - manages to be both entertaining and informative. It is awful to think that such discrimination existed in 50s small-town America,... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Musicfan
Great film - shame about the poor sound quality
My title says it all - the film was great but the sound quality of the DVD is poor. Thankfully I had read the book so was able to follow the film.
Published 21 days ago by SE
no moral heart
I so wanted to love this film. Instead I watched it and was left with a "Whaaa?!!!!" feeling. So I Googled it and found that the Association of Black Women Historians had warned... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Gryphgal
fantastic film-thought provoking. I laughed and cried
As good as the book. Very impressed by this film.Hard hitting in parts,sentimental but not slushy,shocking,thought provoking and laugh out loud funny in places. You must see it.
Published 22 days ago by devonvickie
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
