Many years ago, when The Life Of Brian was released, I had a very frustrating conversation with a Christian minister who had been picketing a cinema to prevent others seeing it.

"Have you seen the film?", I asked.
"No! Of course not!", he replied.
"Then how can you criticise something you haven't seen?"
His reply was immediate: "If a bottle is labelled 'poison', you don't drink it, do you?"

It was one of those times when I thought of my reply several hours after the event! He didn't seem to realise that he had himself put the 'poison' label on the bottle without ever knowing what was in there.

This is no different to those who criticised The Color Purple for being racist without having seen it. I have seen it. In my judgement, it isn't. On a more extreme scale, we have the burning of The Satanic Verses by those who would never read it.

I haven't seen The Help, so won't comment on that particular film.