It was just two weeks ago that I was treating my girlfriend to a just her-and-I bachelorette party, when our plans for a girly camp out were rained on and we decided to see a movie instead. Our choices were fairly slim when it came to "chick flicks" though luckily I was able to convince her to see The Help with me due to all the raves I was hearing about the book by Kathryn Stockett.
I was relieved and very thrilled to discover that our girls night out did not end with a bad movie! I really adored this film, and was happy to hear that my friend did too.
Set in the 1960s the film splendidly captures the modernism of that era, blending it in nicely with the antebellum charm and history of Jackson, Mississippi. Muscle cars tear along hot, dusty roads leading to gorgeous mansions that I could not help but salivate over just a bit. Both the music and the costumes utterly transport you to that bygone time.
But this isn't just a time when ladies dressed better and had better manners; this is also a time when their children are raised by black maids and their prim and proper lifestyle is maintained by underpaid, overworked women who struggle daily with the challenges of discrimination and segregation as imposed by the Jim Crow laws of the time.
Skeeter, our main character played by Emma Stone, is an unmarried and unconventional southern belle who has just returned home from college with aspirations to become a writer. Her friends are more interested in starting families, playing cards, and being involved in high society functions, such as Hilly Holbrook, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Hilly is my favorite character. She is stuck-up, narrow minded and completely prejudiced against her black servants. Not very admirable, but she plays this role superbly! By the film's middle, you are gritting your teeth in frustration with her, but by the end you are just chuckling.
This wild turn of events and about-face with Hilly is brought about by an idea of Skeeter's. Fascinated by the lives of the help (the term most of the ladies use when referring to their maids), and still clinging to fond memories of her childhood friend, and family's maid, Constantine; Skeeter proposes she interview her best friend's maid, Aibileen. This of course violates the strict segregation laws that separate black from white, and there is of course, a bit of backlash. At first the questions are only related to Skeeter's job as a housekeeping column writer at a newspaper office, but slowly enough of a rapport is built between them along with the mutual respect needed for Aibileen to open up about what is is really like to be her. And thus Skeeter begins to write: The Help.
Playing Aibileen is Viola Davis, and her performance is simply wonderful. Even better in my opinion, though, is Octavia Spencer as Minnie. As the second maid to tell her story to Skeeter, Minnie is fiery, and perhaps even a bit stereotypical in her strong, opinionated ways. But she's a great comedic element to the film, either when paired with Hilly Holbrook, her old employer, or her new one, Celia Foote, played by Jessica Chastain.
All of the characters in this movie are simply amazing. It's not often that so many of the roles are played as deeply or as honestly as all of the women in this one are. That being said; male characters are few and far between, so this movie may not be the best date movie, or flick to recommend to your guy friends! Go with a good girlfriend as I did, or wait until it comes to DVD and you get a chance to spend a quite evening home alone - just you, The Help and nice buttery bowl of popcorn. This is a movie that will leave you feeling good, so watch it accordingly.
It's rated PG-13 and is very easy to watch despite some language and intense scenes involving the poor treatment of blacks. I very much enjoyed the film, and recommend seeing it. Read the book first if you like, of course!
9/10 - Dani
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