The Help (A Movie Review)

I have finally gotten around to watching The Help.

What made me wanted to watch this movie was the story itself taking places during America's segregation in the 60s. I am glad that I am not born in that era and to have to go through the discrimination. However, being of ethnic minority, these same prejudice and discrimination are still happening in the 21st Century.

Over the last 50 years, human civilization itself has changed SO much (computers, cellphones, cars, medicine, etc) and yet, we, as people, are still trying kill one another or deny people's basic rights.

I know the movie was based on the book. Since I have not read it, I will solely based it on the movie.

I wanted to watch this movie and have an understanding of that particular era. The movie really emphasized the segregation of the 60s. And watching it now in 2012, some of these discrimination just blew my mind.

One thing that jumped out is really how discrimination is taught. We don't go out and make a decision to say "so today, I'm going to hate *insert group* because they're *insert stereotype*."

This quote shows exactly what I'm talking about:
Skeeter: These colored women raise white children, and in twenty years those children become the boss.

Somehow, somewhere, in the 20 years raised by these colour women, the white children learned to discriminate against someone who was essentially their mother, just not biologically.
Another scene that made me ponder about the discrimination was the use of toilets. I remember reading and watching some videos of how coloured and whites were not allowed to used the same water fountain or same bus. In the movie, toilets should not be shared because white people will get "the disease." When I saw the scene where they proposed a law to build a separate toilet for coloured people, I went "say what? You can't get disease from sharing a toilet." It is one of those things that we do not understand today.

Going back to the roles of these coloured women, they were to cook, clean, and take care of babies. Did you know that this actually STILL exist today? In Hong Kong, I would estimate that about 60-70% of family has a live-in maid of Filipino background. I can't be certain of the pay rate (certain would be decent enough) but to have a live-in maid to do EVERYTHING. And I have seen children being spoiled by it. And then it's things like these that you realized, we have not really evolved into better people. We still treat some people of other race a lower class because of where they're from. End of Rant.

I really liked how some of the character's were developed. Celia was awkward but funny and was more modern then her housewife counterparts. While Hilly was the type of bitch you dislike because of her backward points of views.

After all my rant and complain, I really did enjoy the movie. Although, their Southern accent sometimes meant "what did they just say?" it was still worth watching. I actually plan on watching it again eventually.

Best line of the movie: "Eat My Shit!"

Disney Pixar's Brave (a Movie Review)

This past week I went to see Brave. How does Pixar keep producing these timeless stories? Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc, Wall-E, Up and so on. You can now add Brave to the list. I think it might be my favourite Pixar movie.

Here's the recap and info from IMDB.com

I really enjoyed the movie. And who doesn't love the Scottish accent??

It is visually stunning. I have not been to Scotland but the animation of the landscape is simply beautiful. I found myself drawn into the beauty of the land... even though it was computerized. I thought they did a great job in Up! with South America but the Scottish Highland... WOW! Also stunning was capturing the human emotions onto a bear.

One thing you learn in a music class is how music drives the story. And it was amazing (and I might use this word one too many times). Patrick Doyle created the story with just the music. It was beautiful and amazing (yes, see? I said it again). When you think Scottish music, you will automatically think bagpipes. Yes, bagpipe music was in the movie because you can't have Scottish music without bagpipe but it was done in moderation. Like any other animation, music is very important in driving the story and it definitely did its job. If I come out of the theatre with "I need to go buy the original soundtrack!" It means I really LOVED the music! And the last time that I actually bought an original soundtrack was back in 2000, Gladiator and that was EPIC soundtrack!

I would talk about the story but I might ruin it for you. What I will talk about is the theme of the movie or my interpretations at least. The obvious thing is that the protagonist is Merida, a girl, a young princess. I read someone's comment or opinion somewhere and I have to agree; Merida will obvious be part of the "Disney Princess Collection" along with Belle, Jasmine, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The difference here is though, Merida is a strong, independent little girl and which my friend pointed out, "she didn't need to be paired up with a guy," which is great for girls watching the movie. Having said that, there were also things about the movies boys will love. The most obvious part is Merdia's triplet brothers. They were just adorable trouble makers. You can't help but love them. However, if they were your kids, they will definitely drive you mad.

I didn't watch the movie in 3D so I'm not sure what I missed but this is definitely a must see movie.

If my rating for movie counts, it's a definite 4 out of 5.

Oh and to make it ALL worth it... there is a teaser preview for next Pixar movie... Monsters University. Oh yes, a pre-quel to the 2001 movie Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo is returning to theatre for 3D - that might actually intriguing.