Based off of Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel, "The Help," the film adaptation features the lives of Mississippi women, raised in a world where mothers pass off their motherly duties to African American maids and nannies, called "the help." Set in the early 1960s, the racial discrepancies are outlined by Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), two maids treated so unequally to their employers they are seen as unworthy of using the same bathroom in the same house as them. Aspiring journalist, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone), having just graduated from college, is inspired by her nanny's mysterious and sudden absence, wishing to interview the help to give them a voice in a society that would rather treat them as invisible.
While "The Help" isn't so much a movie about the nitty-gritty details of just how gruesome racism can be or even about doing anything other than wipe the foam off the top of all of the civil rights events that majorly contributed to the rise of equality for minorities, it is a movie about opening up connections and stories to those people some may think to look last. As stated in the movie, "God says we need to love our enemies. It's hard to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it was like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free."
"I thought it would be a good movie, and it did not disappoint, "says Trisha M. Kolesar, a Junior Longwood student. "In ‘The Help', there is such a harsh line drawn, and both sides want to play the offense. It really takes the spark of just one person to change anything."
Skeeter, the catalyst to the help's emerging courageousness, finds herself caught between her own sense of right and wrong and the racism prevalent in her community. Skeeter keeps her writing excursions a secret from the community while documenting the lives and experiences of the help, though finds major difficulty from strong emotional ties to societal views and to the help's own fear of losing their careers in the pursuit of truth.
The movie's backbone is behind the two maids, Aibileen and Minny, and their performances of breaking out of their shells of being pushed around obediently in a society where "separate but equal" is quoted and agreed upon. Aibileen, a woman still too afraid to stand up for herself and instead hides behind doors to overhear conversations filled with reverence towards racism, is found in a job where she is the only source of comfort and love for her employer's toddler. Minny, already out-spoken in doing what she believes is right (e.g., flushing the toilet in her employer's house or taking the phrase, "eat my [poop]," to a whole new level), finds herself in a job where her employer, Celia Foote, a woman unable to find acceptance in her community, treats her not only as an equal, but as part of the family.
Kolesar found that "there were a lot of good moments in the movie, but I really like the take-home message that's reinforced by Celia and Minny's relationship; that we're all human and separation based on race means you're missing a lot of wonderful people and potential friends."
In the end, "The Help" is not so much a tear-jerker as it is a heart-warming knee-slapper that will make you smile more while focusing more on the excitement of rebellion, rather than what loss and struggle can stem from integrity.
Encouraging others to watch the movie, Kolesar says, "I loved so much about ["The Help"]: the time period, the amazing progression of the story, the way the ending isn't necessarily happy, but still satisfying. All that's left now is to read the book."
"The Help" is rated PG-13, was directed and written by Tate Taylor, and is in theaters now.
