The Help is an unflinching – yet at times funny – expose of the deeply troubling, racially charged attitudes of whites in small-minded southern towns at the outset of the civil rights movement. The powerful and moving film reaches theaters just as the national monument to Martin Luther King is unveiled in Washington, D.C. Reverend King would surely approve of the way the filmmakers ask us to take an unflinching look in the mirror and see the ugly face of bigotry for what it is, warts and all. The studio behind the film is aptly named DreamWorks.
The Help stars two African-America domestics, Aibeleen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) who bridle at the demeaning treatment they receive from their employers. They secretly join forces with “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone), a young college-educated white woman who sees racism for what it really is. Appalled by the behavior of her white friends, “Skeeter” encourages the domestics to put their complaints in writing. At grave risk to them selves, the two women respond to “Skeeter’s” challenge and help her author a bombshell of a book that explodes with dramatic force at the film’s climax. When the dust settles, everyone’s life has changed.
Based on the book club favorite of the same name, the film has been drawing large numbers of women (and their tag-along husbands) who want to see the story come to life on the big screen. They won’t be disappointed.
Viola Davis delivers a powerful performance as the maid who grieves the loss of her son. Octavia Spencer is just as expressive in the role of her friend, Minny, a sassy, back-talking maid who refuses to be demeaned. And, Emma Stone plays the part of the prim, wide-eyed college graduate with enough starch in her character to do a week’s worth of laundry.
Kathryn Stockett’s story was adapted for the big screen by Tate Taylor. Some may consider it a chick flick, but this film has the cinematic muscle to do some serious lifting at the Academy Awards.