Movies Like The Help – In 2011, Kathryn Stockett‘s stirring book The Help adapted for the big screen. The film was a major success and attracted attention from all over the world as it revealed the horrifying racial inequity in Mississippi in the 1960s.In a society where racial and social disparities influence interpersonal relationships, the movie explores the lives of three powerful women, Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis), Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone).
For instance, Davis and Spencer portray African-American maids who, in spite of ongoing prejudice and subjugation, selflessly serve white households by looking after and educating the children. However, Stone’s Skeeter is a young, white, aspirant journalist who determined to defy social conventions. Skeeter’s bold idea to record the ladies’ testimonies provides the voiceless a voice and shines light on the maids’ ongoing battles with prejudice and injustice. The ensuing book, purportedly written by “the help,” upends their lives and presents fresh difficulties for the status quo in their tranquil town.
The film won numerous awards, including Octavia Spencer’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar. This list of 7 top movies with intriguing stories that challenge social norms, illuminate historical conflicts, and have an impact on the human spirit will appeal to fans of The Help.
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1. Movies Like The Help: The Butler (2013)
The Butler is based on Wil Haygood’s article “A Butler Well Served by This Election” from the Washington Post, which Lee Daniels directed, co-produced, and Danny Strong wrote. Cecil Gaines, an African-American who worked as the White House butler for 34 years and witnessed important social and political events of the 20th century, portrayed by Forest Whitaker. The life of Eugene Allen, a longtime White House employee, is based somewhat on the movie.
Cecil portrayed by Forest Whitaker in a powerful and understated way. Cecil is a man who epitomizes modesty and discretion in a society where power abuse and racism are rampant. The portrayal of Gloria Gaines, Gaines’ extravagant wife, by Oprah Winfrey is equally stunning. The Butler deftly balances its two stories, which alternate between Gaines’ domestic life and the White House. The difference between the individual and the political, the served and the server, demonstrated by this interaction. Despite some concerns regarding the movie’s historical accuracy and its portrayal of President Reagan, reviews were mostly favorable.
2. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Many critics and media outlets concurred that 2013’s best movie was 12 Years a Slave. The movie, which directed by Steve McQueen and written by John Ridley, is based on the 1853 memoir of the same name written by Solomon Northup. A free African American from New York State who abducted in Washington, D.C., in 1841, and sold into slavery. Solomon Northup portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor. While the supporting cast also includes Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, and Brad Pitt.
The story revolves around Solomon, a renowned musician and family man from Saratoga Springs, New York, who persuaded to move to Washington, D.C., by the prospect of a job. Instead, he drugged, abducted, and sold to the South as a slave. Despite his attempts to assert his freedom, he is compelled to conceal his literacy and put up with the brutalities of slavery for a lengthy twelve years. Patsey, played by Lupita Nyong’o, is a fellow slave who endures hardships alongside Solomon and is the target of their sadistic captor Edwin Epps’s (Michael Fassbender) passion.
3. Movies Like The Help: Selma (2014)
The script for the 2014 movie Selma written by Paul Webb and directed by Ava DuVernay. Along with Tom Wilkinson as Lyndon B. Johnson, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, and Oprah Winfrey as Annie Lee Cooper, David Oyelowo portrays Martin Luther King Jr. in the movie. Dr. King portrayed by Oyelowo. Who won accolades for portraying the charismatic leader’s public persona as well as his inner struggles and anxieties.
The story of Selma begins with Annie Lee Cooper, a local black person. Trying unsuccessfully to register to vote in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Martin Luther King Jr. and his group marched from Selma to Montgomery after a series of events, including the murder of civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by an Alabama state police officer. The movie shows the political and tactical disputes that took place within the civil rights movement, such as King’s meetings with President Johnson and the discussions on the movement’s best course of action.
4. Loving (2016)
Loving, a film about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who sued to repeal Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws, is based on a significant Supreme Court decision from 1967. The Loving Story, a 2011 documentary by Nancy Buirski about the Lovings and their famous legal fight, served as the inspiration for Jeff Nichols’ biographical love story. In their roles as Richard and Mildred Loving, Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton represent the characters with sincere emotion. Edgerton portrays Richard, a caring husband who finds it difficult to understand the complicated legal and political battles into which he and his wife are dragged.
In the meantime, Negga’s Mildred, although being a soft-spoken but obstinate woman, is a quiet force in their fight for justice. Their performances give this grand story a gentle elegance and sincere feeling. Two of the movie’s biggest assets are its stillness and its focus on the Lovings as ordinary people rather than as icons of a movement. The movie received positive reviews from critics and hailed as one of the best of 2016. It nominated for numerous awards, including Best Actor at the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for Edgerton and Negga, respectively.
5. Movies Like The Help: Hidden Figures (2016)
This list would complete only if Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures were included. The film is based on the true story of three African-American women who. During the Jim Crow era, used their mathematical acumen to make NASA’s space program succeed. Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monáe, was the first black woman to work as an engineer for NASA. While Dorothy Vaughan, played by Octavia Spencer, was the organization’s first African-American supervisor.
Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who calculated flight paths for Project Mercury and other missions, portrayed by Taraji P. Henson. The struggle they face against a predominantly white and male culture depicted in the film, along with their triumphs. Hidden Figures was a commercial success and recognized one of the top films of 2016 by the National Board of Review. It received numerous awards, including three nominations for Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
6. Mudbound (2017)
Mudbound is an outstanding investigation of racial and societal issues that takes place in the post-World War II Mississippi Delta. It directed by Dee Rees. The film a vast narrative that explores the rich complexity of two families whose lives interwoven by land, ambition, and sorrow. It is based on the same-named novel by Hillary Jordan. Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Jonathan Banks, Rob Morgan, and Mary J. Blige are among its cast members.
The McAllans, who are white farmers, and the Jacksons, who are their African-American farm hands, are the movie’s main protagonists. In Mudbound, Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell’s film about two World War II veterans, Jamie McAllan and Ronsel Jackson, the subtleties of the racial difference in the Jim Crow South explored. Despite their shared experiences in war. Returning to civilian life in Mississippi after serving alongside exposes the state’s glaring racial disparities.
7. Movies Like The Help: Green Book (2018)
Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali feature in the Peter Farrelly-helmed comedy-drama Green Book, which is based on a true story. The film tells the life story of Italian-American actor Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga and African-American pianist Don Shirley, who toured the Deep South in 1962 with Vallelonga as a bouncer. Don Shirley is a talented and well-educated musician. Tony Vallelonga, in contrast, is a working-class Italian-American resident of the Bronx who has minimal exposure to the rest of the world.
Their differences first generate conflict. But as they move through the racially segregated landscape of the south, they develop an unexpected bond. Although some critics took issue with the movie’s representation of race and Shirley, most complimented the film and notably Mortensen and Ali’s performances. Numerous awards were nominated for and received by Green Book. Ali, the movie, and the screenplay all won Oscars. – Movies Like The Help –
