THE HELP – The Review

Several of this Summers’ fantasy blockbusters Like X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE FALLEN have used real life figures and events as a background for their fantastic tales.  In that vein, almost at the season’s end we now get THE HELP, an intimate character drama ( with many good laughs ) based on the bestselling novel by Kathryn Stockett. The film boasts some powerful performances and arrives in theatres as a change of pace from the CGI beasties, explosions, and R-rated wiseguys and gals.

THE HELP begins in 1961 as Eugina ‘Skeeter” Phelan returns to her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi after finishing college. She immediately applies for a position at the Jackson Journal newspaper. She’s hired to ‘ghost’ the “Ask Myrna” housecleaning weekly advise column, but wants to work for a New York publishing house run by Elain Stein ( Mary Steenburgen ). Skeeter moves back into the Phelan household run by her imposing but frail mother Charlotte ( Allison Janey ). None of her family will explain why their old ‘colored’  maid Constantine ( Cicely Tyson ) quit and moved away during Skeeter’s college absence. Skeeter soon reunites with her old high school girlfriends who are lead by their queen bee Hilly ( Bryce Dallas Howard ). In order to get help with her newspaper column Skeeter befriends her friend Elizabeth’s maid, Aibileen ( Viola Davis ). Their long talks give Skeeeter an idea about writing a book full of stories from the ‘Negro’ maids’ perspective ( with anonymous names of course ). Miss Stein encourages her during one of their phone conversations. Soon Hilly’s put upon maid Minny ( Octavia Spenser ) joins the ladies on the secret project. The stories of these two women are not enough. Many more interviews are needed. Will the other domestics risk their jobs ( and lives ) to share their stories?

THE HELP is a very classy production, one that should be remembered at the end of the year when Oscar ballots are filled out. The art directors have done a wonderful job of evoking the early sixties in the deep south with particular attention given to the fashions and hairstyles. Film maker Tate Taylor has crafted a crackling screenplay based on Stockett’s novel that has wonderful character interaction. He’s also gotten some great performance from this mix of newcomers and acting veterans. Stone exhibits some of her great on screen charm (  perhaps best shown in EASY A and this Summer’s CRAZY,STUPID LOVE ) and makes Skeeter a thoughtful, spirited heroine that we can all root for over the course of the film. Davis’s sweet soulful work as Abileen is the film’s heart. She’s greatly abetted by Spenser’s sassy, spunky, weary Minnie who shines when she befriends the outcast from Hilly’s group, Celia ( played by Jessica Chastain in the great tradition of cinema’s  sweet, child-like, daffy blonds like Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe ). Howard makes Hilly a great hiss-able villainess ( if she had a moustache she’d twirl it), but at times her character seems too cartoonishly evil ( we finally see a bit of her humanity at the end ). Janney’s an imposing funny ( and intractable ) matriarch while Sissy Spacek is used mostly  for comic relief as Hilly’s no-hold-barred flighty mother. We briefly get to meet the men of the household and a potential beau for Skeeter, but this movie, like the opulent homes, is run by the women. My only problem with the film is that it backed off some of the intense brutality that was part of the fight for equal rights in that period. The assassination of Medgar Evans is a major event ( along with JFK’s) and headlines featuring the murder of voters’ rights workers and lynching are shown ( and many an N-word are uttered by bigots ). For the most part the film makers only hint at the horrors, while the ending doesn’t foreshadow the epic struggles to come in the next few years. Perhaps the book dealt more with the contradiction  between the white parents’ fear of the ‘colored’ germs ( even building outdoor bathrooms for them ) while entrusting the maid with their children’s care ( one of the ladies ignores her adorable daughter ). These are small quibbles when compared to the excellent performances  on display. THE HELP is an old fashioned drama that you can take your folks to, and you may end up enjoying it  even more than them.

Overall Rating: Four and a Half Out of Five Stars