Movie Moles Frann Michel and Jan Haaken find some things to like but much to criticize in the very popular current film about black maids in the civil rights era South, The Help.  Among the critques they consider is this, from the Association of Black Women Historians: Despite efforts to market the book and the film as a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice, The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers. We are specifically concerned about the representations of black life and the lack of attention given to sexual harassment and civil rights activism.