The Help is a wonderful movie. Adapted from the book of the same name, The Help is set in the early 60s and takes us back in time to the deep south where racism was still evident in everyday life. As the book did, the movie tells stories from the negro maid perspective. The Help is mainly about an interesting phenomena where white children fall in love with their black maids as surrogate mothers, grow up to be the bosses, and then have the same maids take care of their own children. Some grow up to be better than the previous generation, but most take on the same roles of racism. And then there are some who have the courage to make a change. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is one of the courageous few and the movie centers around her. The movie is cute and funny while it hit on some serious topics.
Skeeter (Emma Stone) was raised the same way as the rest of the girls from privileged families in Jackson, Mississippi: not by her mother, but by her maid. The difference, however, is that Skeeter went on to college and when she returned, she returned as a 23 year-old educated woman who wanted to become a writer. Her long-loved caretaker Constantine (Cicely Tyson) was nowhere to be found which piqued her interest to find out what happened to her and learn more about the African-American women who take care of every one’s children. She begins to try and interview her best friend’s maid, Aibileen (Viola Davis) but just as all the housekeepers, she’s extremely scared and hesitant. It was actually illegal to incite social change in Mississippi. However, as tribulations continued, Aibileen came around as well as her best friend Minny (Octavia Spencer) and other maids to tell their personal stories.
Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer in The Help
It was great to finally see Emma Stone’s range. I love her as an actress but she seems to always have the same awkwardly awesome personality. In The Help, she’s playing in a serious time piece with excellent source material for her to pull from. I thought her performance was great and shows promise for more development in her craft. She proves that she can pretty much carry a movie by herself and take on any kind of role. She still gets to be feisty at some points but for the most part, she’s a listener dealing with both sides of the racial lines. Even though the movie is narrated by Aibleen’s character and the movie is inter cut with interviews and subsequent stories, the main storyline circles around Emma Stone’s character Skeeter.
Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ahna O'Reilly and Anna Camp in The Help
The cast is extensive and everybody plays their part beautifully. The most interesting thing to watch is the help. Obviously, they are not allowed to speak their mind or “sass-mouth” but their emotions tell the whole story. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer do a stunning job as the maids exposing their subdued side around their white bosses and true side when amongst their own. Well, Octavia isn’t always subdued
You can see their fear in the emotions and body language they portray as well as their extensive knowledge and individual courage. Minny Jackson’s eyes should get their own spin off. Bryce Dallas Howard, Ahna O’Reilly and Mary Steenburgen come across almost as Stepford Wives playing the white housewives with their regular bridge club and hollow benefits. I always love when every element of a movie (sets, costumes, lingo, mannerisms) are pitch perfect to the time which the movie is set. Jessica Chastain is a nice surprise as the overly excited housewife who is ostracized by the rest but my favorite character had to be the wonderful Sissy Spacek as the crazy old lady losing her mind…but she could seem to remember two things 
<3 Sissy Spacek
Bring your tissues. Whether your a fan of the book, come from a lineage described above or have no idea what the subject matter is, you will tear up. Obviously, the movie is targeted to women, but guys will enjoy it too…they won’t be able to keep yourself from laughing or getting emotional in some scenes. The Help is not as hard hitting as other movies dealing with racism in the 60s but it’s really funny, really entertaining and teaches you a lesson by the end. This is a perspective usually skipped in movies and truly gets you in the head of the women living in this time. The movie is very safe for kids of all ages and a perfect film for generations of women to see together. Grandmas, moms and daughters will all get something unique from seeing this film. Emma Stone’s character is an excellent role model and the whole premise of both the book and movie is an important thing for anyone to hear. Help yourself to as many servings of The Help as you’d like…maybe 2 slices? You won’t regret it.
Starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek, Get Low is a story of redemption, forgiveness and reputation. Loosely based on a true story, Get Low is about an old hermit living in the woods who decides to attend his own funeral. Living in isolation for about forty years, Felix Bush started to get a reputation of being a crazy and horrible man. He heard about all these stories about him but didn’t actually know the stories since nobody was actually courageous enough to talk to him. So, naturally, he wanted to hear these stories and knew that people would say them at a funeral eulogy. One problem though, he wasn’t dead. But why does he have to be?
This post is part of our SXSW Film Festival coverage
To see the first half of my recap, 
