Amid BLM Protests, 'The Help' Trends on Netflix. And Some People are Taking Issue.

The 2011 Oscar-nominated film "The Help" was recently added to Netflix's library and, amid the nation-wide Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, it has become of the most-watched films on the streamer. Nevertheless, many people have voiced their criticism of the movie, including its own cast.

Per IMDb, "The Help," directed by out filmmaker Tate Taylor, follows an "aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s" who "decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis." The film has an ensemble cast, including Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, and Octavia Spencer, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as housemaid Minny Jackson.

But since the movie has skyrocketed to Netflix's newly-added Top 10 list feature (it sits at the No. 4 spot as of this writing), several Twitter users have taken issue with the film.

Several publications have written about the film's problematic nature as well, including Oprah Magazine's Candice Frederick, who wrote a piece called "'The Help' Addresses Racism Without Making White People Feel Guilty–And That's the Problem." Vanity Fair has a piece directing readers to other movies to watch instead of "The Help."

Despite the film's box office success and its four Oscar nominations, even the film's star Bryce Dallas Howard took to Instagram to address the recent controversy, saying "The Help" was "created by predominantly white storytellers. We can all go further." She then offered a "not comprehensive" list of films and TV shows that center on black characters and come from black creators.

"Stories are a gateway to radical empathy and the greatest ones are catalysts for action," she wrote.

Viola Davis said in 2018 that she had some regrets about starring in "The Help" as well. Speaking with The New York Times at the time she said:

Have I ever done roles that I've regretted? I have, and 'The Help' is on that list. But not in terms of the experience and the people involved because they were all great. The friendships that I formed are ones that I'm going to have for the rest of my life. I had a great experience with these other actresses, who are extraordinary human beings. And I could not ask for a better collaborator than Tate Taylor.

I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn't the voices of the maids that were heard. I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They're my grandma. They're my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.

Revisit the trailer for "The Help" below.