"The Help" - Film Review

When we think of the South as depicted in pop culture we tend to have certain conceptions of it our mind. Southern gentlemen; southern belles; a bit of rednecks and hicks; a stubborn honorable streak. But we often times forget about just how densely populated the South is with the African American communities of our country. More than half of the black population of the U.S. resides in the South. Which means the story of our southern states is largely the story of what happened to those individuals who struggled under the prejudices and racist strains so prominent in the South.

The Help tells the story of frizzy haired, noble minded Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) who’s looking to become a journalist, but can only find work writing for a domestic advice column. Skeeter has always been compassionate towards the black help that are in almost every home in Jackson, Mississippi. She recognizes that her own maid Constantine Bates (Cicley Tyson) had a greater hand in raising her than her own kind but far too appearance minded mother (Allison Janney). She decides that she has an obligation to tell the story of the help from their perspective, and slowly but surely she wins over the likes of temperate Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and feisty Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) to tell their stories.

The Help could have been just another conventional story about the civil rights movement, and at times it’s exactly just that (the racial questions are probably not delved into as deeply as a film with this subject matter ought to have been). However, the film forms a heart at the center of the story by creating several likable, memorable characters. These characters don’t simply do the right thing because it’s right (in a wash our hands and be done with it sort of way) but rather have to struggle with what the consequences of standing up against the injustices of the time will be. Skeeter doesn’t win over Aibileen and Minny immediately; she has to get them to talk slowly and begrudgingly against their better judgements so that when the predictable happens and they do speak, it’s all the more satisfying. 

The film is both laugh out loud funny (that whole business about the “chocolate pie” is too, too funny) and tearjerker touching (and abundantly features both – Stephen Colbert’s tagline for his book immediately comes to mind: “I laughed, I cried, I lost 10 pounds” and would totally be fitting for this film). But these tonal shifts never feel jarring or bizarre. In fact, each tends to affect the other. Minny’s struggles to teach the ditzy, naïve Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain) domestic work are very funny at times, but they inform what ends up being some very moving moments where Celia treats Minny as not just a confidante but a trusted friend. 

The film features so many great performances that are given really great material to work with (from writer/director Tate Taylor). You never once doubt that Stone’s determined, wide eyed Skeeter actually cares about the plight of the help. Bryce Dallas Howard is frustratingly convincing as Hilly Holbrook, stuck up Stepford Wife whose racist antagonism drives so much of the need for Skeeter to write the book in the first place. Octavia Spencer brings such warmth and humanity to a character who very well could have become a caricature in the wrong hands. Similarly, Jessica Chastain brings so much sadness and heart to a character that is borderline stock character. Even smaller roles are given so much to work with; Sissy Spacek is deeply funny for her brief stint as Mrs. Walters. 

The Help is a compassionate, funny, moving film bolstered by a great cast. 

Grade: B