The Help

Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' could not have been better adapted into a movie than the wonderfully produced 2011 drama with the same name. Some may say that the movie empowers the whites, making them the only people who could make a difference in a black person's world at the time. But is that not the realistic truth? I would give the movie 4.5 out of 5 stars because it really delves into intimate issues, showing what went on in the inner being of a poor black woman during the 1960's racist era in America, particularly in Mississippi where the movie is set. The lost 0.5 is due to the fact that no movie that attempts to portray racism that occurred in any part of the world can truly and effectively show people the harsh nature of what really took place.

Her graduation from University and her search for a job lead the young, white Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan back to her home in Jackson, Mississippi. She gets a job to be writing for a small newspaper column on home-keeping and reunites with some of her white friends whom she had left behind to go to school. There is an instant dislike of these 3 women especially Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard). They are snobs with a twisted understanding of the meaning of Christianity. What bothers Skeeter the most is the way they speak of 'the helps' in their homes with highly demeaning, rude and derogatory comments. At the start, Skeeter wants one of the helps, Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) to help her with the newspaper column on home-keeping she is putting together. But after watching how these helps are treated, she gets the courage to ask.

 

Miss Stein, an editor for Harper Row in New York, if she could write about something different, something that is prevalent but no one seems to take notice of. She wants to explore what it is like for these helps to bring up white kids while theirs are elsewhere uncared for by their mothers. She is given the chance and so she begins to seek the help of Aibileen and later, Aibileen's best friend Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer). At first, they are quite reluctant to speak with her but soon, they begin to talk, giving their personal stories of hurt, regret, pain and the little joys they may have experienced.

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Angie is an African Teenager  that contributes to pamelastitch.com and she loves rock music!

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