In 2009 author Kathryn Stockett went public with her first novel, The Help, which relates the stories of black female domestics who worked for white families in Jackson, Mississippi in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. The New York Times predicted it would be a button-pushing, soon to be wildly popular novel and they were right.
The book has sold five million copies and has spent more than 100 weeks on the The New York Times Best Seller list and was made into a very successful and critically acclaimed comedy/drama film within two years. It also drew the criticism from Ida E. Jones, the national director of the Association of Black Women Historians who felt the book trivialized the plight of black domestic workers in the South and fostered a lawsuit from one of the domestic workers depicted in the film.
The Help grossed almost $200 million on a $25 million budget at the box office and starred Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Sissy Spacek, Mike Vogel, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell and Mary Steenburgen. It now comes out on Blu-Ray December 6, hoping to carry the momentum of the print and celluloid success and clean up in the video market.
The Help will be available in two separate combo packs; a Blu-Ray/DVD packaging and a Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy set. The visuals were quite good that portrayed the 60s and provided a realistic feel to the time period, even though you never quite felt you were in Mississippi. It does run fairly long at two and a half hours and considering the historical significance the disc special features were not very plentiful or in depth.
Trivia Bit: Kathryn Stocketts book on which the film is based was rejected 60 times before it was eventually published.
Technical Specs – Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy
Supplements – Deleted scenes – Music video
Exclusive HD Content – Deleted scenes – Making of The Help; from Friendship to Film – In Their Own Words: A Tribute To The Maids Of Mississippi featurette.
The Help Trailer
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