"The Help" is a 2011 drama film directed by Tate Taylor and starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer. The film is based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Kathryn Stockett, and tells the story of a young white woman named Skeeter (Stone) who becomes friends with two African American maids, Aibileen (Davis) and Minny (Spencer), in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s.
The film is set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and focuses on the themes of racism and social justice. It tells the story of how Skeeter becomes determined to write a book about the experiences of the black maids in her community, and how Aibileen and Minny become involved in helping her with the project.
One of the standout performances in the film is Viola Davis as Aibileen, a maid who has spent her life caring for the children of white families. Davis gives a powerful and emotional performance as a woman who is tired of being treated as a second-class citizen, and who finds the courage to speak out against the injustice and discrimination she has faced throughout her life.
Another standout performance is Octavia Spencer as Minny, a maid who is known for her feisty and rebellious spirit. Spencer brings a sense of humor and heart to the role, and her performance is both funny and poignant.
The film also features a strong supporting cast, including Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook, a wealthy and entitled woman who is determined to maintain the racial divide in her community, and Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan, Skeeter's mother.
Overall, "The Help" is a poignant and moving film that tackles difficult themes with sensitivity and grace. It is a powerful reminder of the importance of standing up for what is right and speaking out against injustice, and is a testament to the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
Review: The Help
Former Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey is an award-winning entertainment journalist and bestselling author. But I also think they're full of good, evocative details — closely observed depictions of the coping mechanisms of both servants and employers. For, naturally, a novelist would assume a fellow writer is above such pettiness as racism and class snobbery. Along with the inaccuracies of a defiant, sassy domestic worker, we only saw the tip of the iceberg when it came to the white backlash. Soon after, many other workers open up and tell their stories to Skeeter. The weak, weepy, uplifting ending is odd given Mississippi's imminent eruption, but there will be wet hankies everywhere.
Help review
As much a part of white family life as weekly bridge clubs and church on Sunday, black maids were often loved, more often exploited and nearly always taken for granted. It lingers a tad too long on the Colored Only signs and Confederate flags. The moms trusted the maids to raise their children, this was despite the fact that the blacks were considered dirty, disease—ridden and having less intelligence than the average white person during this time period. Instead they always expected more of their hard working maids. They also say the novel is full of stock characters that reinforce classic African-American stereotypes like the "sassy" maid and the shiftless, abusive husband. The addition of the coloreds only bathroom seems to be the tipping straw for Minny, and she soon joins in and gives her own experiences as a domestic worker. Widowed and heartbroken after the manslaughter of her son, she was portrayed as compliant, complimentary, and cordial to her white counterparts and their friends.
The Help Movie Review
She has a publishing career on her mind; they have uncomfortable truths, and redemption on theirs. Yet her eyes speak volumes about the pain and anger she feels. THE HELP has a liberal worldview with mixed elements. One of the key elements in this film is centered around the poor working conditions coloured women faced. In the movie, The Help, the plot takes place during the 1960s in which a colored maid and a college educated white women work together to expose the poor treatment colored maids faced. As well as instances such as this, the main plot of the film, telling black domestic workers stories, only came through Skeeter, as a white woman in contact with a national journalism source. The world-weary Aibileen is the perfect counterpoint to the newly minted skeptic.
The Main Issues Represented In “The Help” Movie: [Essay Example], 830 words GradesFixer
Presenting itself as the story of how African-American maids in the South viewed their employers during Jim Crow days, it is equally the story of how they empowered a young white woman to write a best-seller about them, and how that book transformed the author's mother. While it is not as glaring, due to the alignment of philosophical values from Skeeter, and her progressive tendencies, it does bring to light how Hollywood implements the classic trope of a white savior throughout black Hollywood films. In fact that's where Skeeter finds the leit motif of a writer -- to use the pen to usher change. THE HELP displays many different aspects to racism through the multiple characters. How could you find out more about this part of history? For both sides it becomes a test of courage and conviction told in a kind of Capra-esque style, and I mean that in the best possible way. THE HELP has some positive Christian content and positive underlying themes of respecting women and exposing racism. In being true to the book and the complex interlocking stories and characters Stockett created, Taylor runs into the same difficulty — too many happy endings that come too fast and fail to foreshadow the difficulties that lie ahead.
The Help movie review & film summary (2011)
I do not like it. I believe one of the Ten Commandments says something about not taking the Lord's name in vain. Critic David Edelstein says that both Stone and Davis pull off stunning performances. Some of Stockett's critics have gone so far as to say she actually romanticizes domestic servitude by depicting black nannies' genuine love for the white children in their care. The story, based on Kathryn Stockett's best-seller, focuses on Skeeter Phelan Both are maids. Through analysis of the intersections between black women and domestic violence, some patterns stem from when black women were still enslaved. Then Hilly dumps her aging mother's maid, Minny, played by Octavia Spencer, for being what's often called "sassy.
