Film review: The Help

1960s’ Mississippi. Not a great time to be a woman. An even worse time to be a black woman. The latter survive by working as maids for white families, raising their children, cooking their food and cleaning up their mess.

Based on the novel of the same name, The Help tells the stories of these voiceless maid servants of the privileged white classes. Though ‘privileged’ is moot: the bee-hived white women of Jackson have money, true, but they are largely jobless helpmeets, who spend their languid hours playing bridge, organizing charity benefits, attempting to snare rich husbands and bitching. As well as jealously preserving the social apartheid.

But Skeeter (Emma Stone) is cut from a different cloth than her Stepford Wife peers. Rather than simply stalking the nearest wealthy tall man, as recommended by her jaded mother, she aspires to become a writer. The casual racism of her social circle drives her to embark on a secret project cataloguing the stories of Jackson’s “helps”, with all the indignities, cruelty and occasional kindnesses they experience from their white employers. But as the civil rights movement gains momentum and Ku Klux Klan violence erupts nearby, the project – with its taboo fraternizing of the races – becomes riskier.

Subtle, The Help is not. Sentimental, yes – and then some. Racism is an ugly topic, and director Tate Taylor uses a broad brush to depict it, simplistically dividing his characters into good and bad. But some sterling performances and a wealth of goodwill save the film from drowning in its own maudlinism.

The star is undoubtedly Viola Davis as the long-suffering Aibileen, a career maid whose own son was killed by white indifference while his mother raised 17 white children with the care and love absent in many of their parents. Her sidekick, Minny (Octavia Spencer), is another beautifully drawn character, whose volatility and spirit see Spencer steal many a scene.

On the opposite side of the white picket fence is Miss Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), the Southern belle from hell who crusades for separate toilets for the races and has a great line in those Jane Austen style deceptively innocuous observations that are actually withering putdowns. Dallas Howard delivers a deliciously vile turn as the villain of the piece, oozing malevolence from behind a thin-lipped smile. Jessica Chastain, as the kind-hearted “white trash” also ostracized by Hilly and her coven, shines in her supporting role.

The schmaltz and caricatures will deter some, but The Help will win many viewers over with its huge heart and the truth and power of its message. Moments of warmth and wicked humor provide relief from the depressing prejudice – this is no Mississippi Burning. In fact the only thing burning is fried chicken. Taken in the spirit in which it was meant, The Help is a big ole delight.