Let’s get something straight here; this is not “Mississippi Burning,” nor is it “The Color Purple.” It’s not quite as daring or shocking as either of these valiant masterpieces, but to be honest it doesn’t necessarily need to be. Whether or not Kathryn Stockett’s original book carries more impact I do not know, but as a cinematic experience the film is faultless. I’ve said it twice, I’ll say it again: it’s an out-and-out crowd-pleaser, and I’m very happy to be part of the crowd.
The film has three female protagonists; one is white, the other two are black. One is Eugene “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone, “Easy A“), a young and bright University graduate who has just moved back to her Jackson home to find that the family maid (Cicely Tyson, “Sounder”) who practically raised her has gone; Skeeter suspects her mother or father fired the elderly maid.
The other two protagonists are Jackson maids who cook, clean and serve white families. One is the largely outspoken Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer, “Dinner for Schmucks”), a talented cook whose amusingly blunt attitude constantly lands her in trouble; the other is the mild-mannered Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis, “Doubt”), who had the life sucked out of her when her son tragically died years ago.
Skeeter wants to be a writer of sorts; maybe a journalist, maybe a novelist, maybe both. It’s when she observes how the white families of Jackson are unappreciative of their hard-working maids that an idea comes to her mind: she’ll write a book from the perspective of the maids of this small Mississippi town.
So, Skeeter begins talking to the local maids, with mixed results. The vast majority are too scared to talk, fearing that their employers will discover them. Some feel that it is pointless, that they, as well as all of the other maids, will gain nothing from it. But soon enough, some get to talking, writing stories of their troubling experiences serving and cleaning up after white families, and thus begins Skeeter’s book, “The Help.”
The film is not necessarily a true story in the sense of the characters’ historical existence; these characters are not real, nor ever were. But what makes it a true story is its depiction of a time and a place; Mississippi is seen by history books as a place of much racism in the 1960s, with African-Americans unfairly discriminated against time and time again.
Any depiction of this unjust society is inevitably going to have an emotional bite, but the characters in “The Help” are so real and so genuine that this bite feels natural. They make the story, which is simple but effective, effortlessly involving; they each play their role in making the narrative an endlessly immersive experience.
They’re characters that are acted beautifully. Stone plays the modern-minded lady of the era, fitted with a humanity that most of her white fellow citizens seem to be lacking in. Davis and Spencer are both spectacular scene-stealers in their own right; Davis’ character is more timid and sympathetic, while Spencer’s is loud and opinionated, a true back-talker of a maid.
Bryce Dallas Howard (“Lady in the Water”) plays the role of the film’s villain, Hilly Holbrook. She’s the stuck-up, racist ringleader of the town, her character serving to represent the racial ignorance of the time. She is uncaring, unflinching and will fire a maid simply for using the house toilet (African-Americans carry diseases, apparently). You will spend most of the movie wishing you could punch her in her snide little face.
This is a humble movie dealing with big issues. These issues are dealt with with both humour and drama, two opposites combined to astonishing effect. By the closing moments, I had tears in my eyes; they weren’t tears of sadness or joy, but a result of the beauty of the film I had just finished watching.
10/10
No comments:
Post a Comment