The Help (2011) - Film Review

Based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Kathryn Sockett, The Help documents the racial conflicts that occurred during the 1960s towards African American women who worked in White American suburban homes.

Directed by Tate Taylor, the film stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, a young college graduate who gets a job at a The Jackson Journal in Jackson, Mississippi. The white residents of Jackson, Mississippi all have African American maids working for them at home known as "the Help", who are there to do everything from cooking and cleaning to taking care of the young children. Told from the perspective of the women in the community, cat fights and housewife bickering ensues when Skeeter decides to take a stand against the racial segregation implemented towards the black folks in the town. With the help of two of the maids, Aibileen(Viola Davis) and Minny(Octavia Spencer), Skeeter decides to secretly work on a novel about the stories of "the Help" told from the perspective of them.

The Help was emotional, heart-felt, and funny altogether. The film keeps close to its source material, and manages to capture the essential ingredients that made the novel such a success in the first place. Emma Stone is finally able to showcase a different side of her acting capabilities in this film aside from the quirky sarcastic characters that she is so accustomed to portraying. But while she was believable as a determined do-good journalist, there is not much to rave about her performance here. Yes, she was good but it was nothing special or out of the ordinary.

The true standouts in this film, are Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, whose portrayal as the two maids Aibileen and Minny was truly delightful. There is so much affection and empathy put in to these two characters by the actresses, that one cannot help but root for them till the end of the film. Bryce Dallas Howard also stars, in the role of Hilly, the snobby leader of the American wives pact. Howard's performance is also notable, as her mean girl act is convincing and makes you actually want to hate her.

A wonderful book-to-movie adaptation, The Help is a film with a lot of warmth, giving a heart-felt portrayal of the racial issues down south in the 1960s.