The Help

The Help is a 2011 film, written and directed by Tate Taylor. It is based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett and became a resounding success during the awards season, including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. The film centers around the southern United States in the early 60s and follows a young journalist, Skeeter Phelan, as she writes a book from the stories told by the "help". 

It is an insightful representation of what black people had to endure whilst working for white people in what I can only imagine is slightly better than being someone's slave. We are initially introduced to the Mississippi families, rich white households each with their own maid. During this period we are introduced to Skeeter Phelan, played beautifully by Emma Stone, who starts to look at how the maids are being treated by her friends and decides she wants to write a book from their perspective.

As the film progresses, we gradually get to know the maids on a more personal level and start to feel their pain and suffering. The two main characters we get to follow are Aibileen Clark, played by Viola Davis, and Minny Jackson, played by Octavia Spencer. Octavia won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress whilst Viola missed out on the Actress in a Leading Role Oscar. One surprise after watching the film was that Emma Stone was not recognised for her performance which I thought was remarkably strong and moving.

This film very much deserves the high praise it received from the critics and the audiences. It is beautifully shot and has many strong performances throughout. The soundtrack takes you to the heartland of southern America during the sixties with a warmth and soul which is so often over used. The Help provides not only a classy film, but a reminder of what things used to be like for so many people.

The Bridge

An insightful, if not somewhat harrowing documentary, regarding suicides on The Golden Gate Bridge. Eric Steel's 2006 documentary provides a glimpse into the dark side of the iconic San Francisco landmark by talking to family and friends of a number of jumpers who all decided to add themselves to the list of people who have chosen the Golden Gate Bridge as their final resting place.

The film itself starts with some beautiful shots of this wonderful structure. Having seen the Golden Gate Bridge in person I can say that it is one of only a few man-made structures which really stays with you in terms of its splendour. Seeing the bridge again set against the bright blue sky brought back lots of memories from my visit back in 1997.

We then start seeing people walking along the bridge from what is obviously a camera set up along the shoreline from some distance away. People walking and cycling, taking photos and having a laugh glancing out from over the surprisingly low barrier. It therefore comes as a bit of a shock when a man the camera is focused on climbs over the barrier and jumps to the water below. 

This sets us up for the documentary which is to follow. We get a chance to hear from family members and friends as they talk about the lives and troubles of the people they once knew. You start to realise that the people that the camera is following are the people that we are being told about. It is hard to think that everyone interviewed for this documentary had been approached because their loved ones had chosen to end their lives. 

The sight of people jumping from the bridge for some reason did not effect me; I found it interesting to hear about these people and what drove them to do what they did. The thing which I found hard to comprehend was that this documentary involved someone sitting behind a camera and waiting for someone to jump. This wasn't a film from Hollywood, this wasn't a scripted piece of fiction, these were real people who didn't know they were being filmed. It wasn't the contents of the documentary that troubled me but rather the manner in which it must have been made.

The Bridge is a decent documentary but will not appeal to some people given its contents. If you do decide to watch it, please be warned that it openly shows people committing suicide.