The Help

Based in the racially charged Deep South during the sixties The Help takes a look at the perspective of the hired help and what they were forced to grin and take during Jim Crow. The heart of the story is in the right place. Everything else seems to be scattered from the emotion to the narrator. This fluctuation may work for a book but in the movie the story seems to be all over the place.

The story itself is very convincing and connects itself to the audience. There didn't seem to be any over dramatization for the sake of getting a reaction. Although it seemed there was plenty of room for just such an action as one can't help but feel nervous for the main characters as they attempt to do what they feel to be the right thing. Instead the story is told true to what life could have been during this tumultuous time. The story seemed so natural that I believed it to be a true story.

The Help follows the action of two women attempting to share the story of their town with the rest of the country. Emma Stone plays Skeeter a fledgling writer living in a well to do Mississippi town. She is looking to make the move from small town journalist to novelist and to do that she needs to find a subject to speak to that people around her seem to be missing out on. After noticing the way her friends and family treat the hired help, she believes she has found her subject. No one is willing to talk to Skeeter about what really goes on in these white homes fearing the repercussions until she finally convinces Ailbileen Clark played by Viola Davis to speak about her life. While the story is about the black workers and the voiceovers are done by Viola Davis, Emma Stone’s character seems to be the one pushing the plot along. Only Hollywood could take a movie about the plight of Black workers in Jackson, Mississippi during the sixties and have it star a white woman.

The book features three different perspectives both the point of view of Skeeter and Ailbileen along with Ailbileen's friend Minny. In the movie Minny, played by Octavia Spencer takes a back seat and provides more comic relief than perspective. The movie is at its best when the focus of the movie turns to Davis and Spencer. As you can expect Davis, a Tony and Oscar nominated actress, brings in a powerful performance. All her emotions dazzle through the eyes of this performer and it is her character that can raise you up or bring you down. Spencer does not convey her fears as well as Davis, and while she obviously fears for her livelihood at time she does much better with sass.

Their white counterparts do a fine job. It is easy to see why Emma Stone is in so many movies, she is charismatic, talented, and cute. She does a great job in the movie but is probably given too much to do, including a romance that has no bearing on the story, and in fact takes away from the idea that this movie is about strong independent women. Her romance is the only male prominently featured in the movie; all others are pushed out of the scene or are only there at the whims of their wives to showcase the women of the time. No better example than queen bee and president of the Junior League Hilly Holbrook, played by Opie's daughter Bryce Dallas Howard. Hilly holds the most power in her group of women and has ostracized those who would get in her way. Howard really gets herself into the character, pushing those around her to maintain the status quo of the town all while wearing a perfect smile. Howard does a great job bringing to life a deplorable character.

With such strong talent in front of the camera most of its waywardness can be attributed to the relatively new director Tate Taylor. Taylor is a close friend of the novel's author Kathryn Stockett and may have been convinced to keep too much of the story. While not necessarily a bad thing to stay so true to a beloved book, there is no need to keep everything, and someone with such little experience or sway may not know how to correctly pace a movie.

The movie itself though is fine, it doesn't get bogged down or overzealous, though it is often fairly overt on what the characters are thinking and how you should feel. The movie concerns itself with making sure fans of the book can cherish the story and share it with those who have yet to read it, and in that respect the movie accomplishes its goals. If you allow yourself to be taken into their world you will surely feel better for it. C