The Help

The Help is a film about a young writer (Emma Stone) in Mississippi during the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. Annoyed with how her fellow citizens treat the African-American maids they employee to raise their children and take care of their houses, she decides to interview some of the targeted women and write a book about what it’s like to be them. One of the film’s best successes are the attention to detail in the set and costume design. From the view of someone born in New York in the 80’s, everything looks pretty authentic. Maybe those more familiar with the locale would disagree.

Stone shows her versatility once again with an engaging performance. But the script only asks for the character to act as a tool for the women she is writing about. Both Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer provide the brunt of the emotional exchanges that occur in the film. The complementing personalities of their characters do well to keep the movie fresh scene after scene. Davis is more the patient and quiet type, trying to keep her head down and Spencer is the self-described “sass-talker.” The plot makes it perfectly clear how dangerous an action it is for these women to speak about their white employers at this time, but with how dislikeable Bryce Dallas Howard’s character is, most viewers would agree the risk is worth it. Howard plays a smiley racist who preaches about the dangers of sharing bathrooms with blacks, and how disposable they are. But don’t worry she gets hers in the end.

The movie runs a bit too long. While it remains engaging throughout, the sheer amount of storylines and sub-plots could do with some cutting down. This length is possibly an attempt to remain true to the book used as the source material, but it’s too much. The film culminates with some powerful scenes and wraps up a bit too neatly. If only things did work out as perfectly for women who experienced these sorts of troubles. But as an outsider, I can guess that they didn’t. The Help and some of its prevailing actors will likely get some award season buzz, which is justified. (8.2 out of 10)