Mix an ambitious white writer and an experienced black maid and in essence you have The Help, a book written by Kathryn Stockett, and adapted for the big screen in the identically titled movie The Help (2011). Playing this weekend, Nov. 11, 12 and 13 in Wallenberg Auditoriun.
Highlighting the stories of progressive, unyielding, white Americans helping in the fight against racial prejudice, the story crafted in The Help comes through full force.
Set in 1960s Mississippi , Skeeter Phelan, played by Emma Stone, returns home from college determined to become a writer. She desires to write a story from the point of view of a black maid, and after several attempts at an interview with her best friend’s maid, Aibileen (Viola Davis), Skeeter finally gets her to share of what life as a black maid is like in Mississippi.
Not only does Skeeter’s work upset the white population, Aibileen’s confessions to this white girl angers the black population as well. The two quickly find themselves in the center of a southern town’s racial battle. Despite focusing on such a serious topic, director Tate Taylor and author Stockett managed to slip in a few comedic moments to make sure the audience didn’t leave without a chuckle or two.
What makes this movie is the vibrant portrayal the actors pour into their characters.
Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are a chemic trio who work amazingly well together and continue to build off one another as their characters grow ever closer as the movie moves forward.
Jessica Chastain adds in her own wonderful performances as an attractive, but inept housekeeper, shunned by a majority of her peers because of the man she chose to marry.
In a day and age filled with over the top action like Transformers it’s nice to find a movie that you can sit down to watch, and really think about what it is attempting to portray, especially in the case of The Help’s as it shows a time in American history when the battle over racial inequalities was a major cultural contention.
I give it a four out of five stars and recommend anyone with a spare two hours to go and watch this film.