The Help

Tate Taylor has created a bright, broad and sassy film that probably won't be bothering Oscar as was predicted given the subject matter due to a lack of hand-wringing (although Octavia Spencer is gathering well-earned steam) but it is good fun, moving and worthy of much praise.

The Help is the story of the civil rights movement boiled down to the basics.  Aibileen and Minny are maids working in Jackson Mississippi  - an area not exactly known for its liberalism - who come forward with their stories for a book to be written from the perspective of the coloured maids of the town.  The writer is a wealthy while girl, Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan, who has been encouraged by a publisher to write about what disturbs her and hits upon this topic after her best friend writes a bill to make it a requirement for all homes with coloured help to have a separate outdoor bathroom for them to use as they carry different diseases.  With the civil rights movement hotting up the publisher encourages her to complete the writing "before it all blows over".

While the tone may be a little too light for some (I'm currently reading the book and even only 72 pages in there is more depth and darkness) Taylor has succeeded in showing the lives of these women as they work in the houses of people who become enemies and those that become friends.  Through Aibileen and Minny we see both sides of this experience as their work goes unappreciated and their skills belittled, at least until Minny finds a somewhat happier household to work in. 

As the villain of the piece Bryce Dallas Howard brings a sickly sweet brittleness to Hilly Holbrook and makes her genuinely dangerous, smiling through her threats and slowly but surely destroying people's lives.  Octavia Spencer is absolutely wonderful has the outspoken, sassy Minny - a woman who knows her place but doesn't have to be happy about it.  She bubbles with attitude but is a big softy underneath as we get to witness and enjoy while her relationship with Jessica Chastain's outcast Celia Foote develops (another brilliant Chastain performance - what a year she's had!).  Emma Stone is little more than the reporter of events but the friendship with the woman who raised her is an integral part of the plot and Stone convinces as the courageous girl who won't sit back and let people fob her off with half-truths and weak excuses. 
But Viola Davis is the emotional centre of the film.  Her middle-aged, vastly experienced Aibileen is downtrodden and heartbroken but stoic and strong.  Hers are the eyes through which we see the others and hers is the courage which changes the course of the film.  Viola Davis played another put-upon, sore-hearted woman in Doubt and moved me to tears in one scene so it is just wonderful to see her carrying this film with such warmth and depth of character.

Taylor's glossy adaptation is a thoroughly enjoyable watch - 3.5/5