Last summer my daughter shared a book she had just read with me. Now, I love to read but by this time the movie was ready to hit the theaters, so there I was, standing in line for popcorn.
I lived in the south in the mid 60’s for a short period of time and being a 20 year old native Californian, it was a whole new world. I was white and I was teased for my “weird” accent but that was the least of my education. I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland falling down a rabbit hole where everything seemed to be topsy-turvy. “Colored” public water fountains and rest rooms were the norm. I understand the history that created the situation but as a temporary resident, it totally baffled me.
The Help takes place in the 60’s in the south. The movie, based on Kathryn Stockett’s book of the same name, was written and directed by Tate Taylor. This movie is brimming with believable, likeable women characters.
As a privileged white woman, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is all grown up and has just graduated from “Ole’ Miss.” She’s back home and like her friends, expected to get married and have a family. She is smart, ambitious and wants to be a writer. She gets a job with a newspaper writing, what else, the Household Hints column. Most of her friends didn’t go to college and have already begun the obligatory bridge parties and baby showers.
Tate Taylor has a story to tell and he doesn’t let us see much of the political activity but we feel its pressure in the anxiety of the black women and the tight lipped anger of the whites. These young women are idle, snobbish and have hardened to condescending racists.
Observing this after having been away, Skeeter decides to write a book about “The Help.” She has no idea how hard it is going to be to get any black maid to confide in her, much less enough of them to make a story, but she keeps trying and assuring them that it’s a story that needs to be told. One by one they start to come around, all for different reasons. The stories that come from the hearts of these women are heartrending, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes joyful.
I won’t spoil the sub plots but I loved this movie. These ladies, with their secret writing project are breaking all the societal rules and putting everything at risk. Sometimes they’re scared, but mostly they are having a great time coming out of their generationally and geographically imposed shell. Skeeter is played by amazingly versatile, Emma Stone. Octavia L. Spencer is delightfully feisty as Minny Three. Emma’s friend, Hilly Holbrook, someone whose mother should have paddled her behind more often, is played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Last, but certainly not least, is the stoic Aibileen, masterfully played by Viola Davis. Sissy Spacek, Jessica Chastain and Allison Janneys round out this stellar cast. Together you get a morally serious and touching movie that manages to have a goosey, gossipy quality with a heavy dose of villainy.
One scene has the maid holding her young charge and softly saying to her, “You is smart, you is kind, you is important.” This is the same child who will grow up to follow her mother down the path of bigotry. Watch The Help, you’ll love it and as always, I welcome your comments at chastings@rockcliff.com.
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