The Help (2011)

Historical drama set in Mississippi in 1963. 

Skeeter (Emma Stone), an aspiring author, decides to write a book on African-American maids and the struggles they face on a daily basis.

Directed by Tate Taylor, this film is adapted from the popular 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett. Despite good storytelling and some remarkable performances by Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Viola Davis, it’s sentimental and simplistic. There’s also an unfortunate “white saviour” aspect. Given the importance of the Civil Rights movement, you wish there had been a more nuanced and subtle treatment of the topic.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Based on a true story, Hidden Figures focuses on three female mathematicians who worked for NASA during the Space Race. Despite their brilliance as individuals, their careers were stifled as a result of racial prejudice and segregation.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe star alongside Kevin Costner, who portrays the director of the Space Task Group. Meanwhile, Kirsten Dunst is oddly cast as an unsympathetic supervisor.

The film combines their stories with that of the space race itself, bringing to life the nail-biting events of John Glenn’s first American orbital spaceflight. 

There's no getting away from the seriousness of the subject matter, but there are funny and tender moments too.