The Help Review by Sputnik

In 1960s Mississippi, Southern society girl Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns from college with dreams of being a writer. She turns her small town on its ear by choosing to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families. Only Aibileen (Viola Davis), the housekeeper of Skeeter’s best friend, will talk at first. But as the pair continue the collaboration, more women decide to come forward, and as it turns out, they have quite a lot to say.

The movie is based on Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel of the same name. There are so many scenes that are very good like the scene where Hilly talks about creating separate bathrooms for the help or the scene where she fires Minny for using the guest bathroom or the scene where the socialist Hilly refuses to help her maid Yule May or the scene where Skeeter’s mother fires her maid Constantine or the scene where Celia cooks for Minny. The best scene of the movie is the hilarious “terrible awful” scene where Hilly eats Minny’s baked pie.

Emma Stone is very good as Skeeter. Viola Davis is excellent as Aibileen and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. She lost to Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady. Octavia Spencer is excellent as Minny and she deservedly won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Bryce Dallas Howard is excellent as Hilly and I think she should have also been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Jessica Chastain is excellent as Celia and she was deservedly nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Allison Janney is very good as Skeeter’s mother. Ahna O’Reilly is very good as Elizabeth. Sissy Spacek is very good as Hilly’s mother Mrs. Walters. Cicely Tyson is very good as Constantine. The little girl Mae Mobley was very cute and was played by the twins Emma and Eleanor Henry. The rest of the cast was decent.

The movie is set in the 1960s during the Jim Crow era when racism and segregation was still prevalent. The movie shows how hypocritical some White women were in how they held charity dinners for Africans while still being racist in their own homes.

Tate Taylor’s direction is very good. The movie is a comedy while it still deals with serious issues of racism and segregation. The movie is hilarious with just a few dramatic moments. The movie was nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Picture. The Help is excellent and highly recommended.

Highly Recommended

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