As the first term of the nation’s first black president winds down, The Help had the capacity to remind audiences that America is just two generations removed from some of the most unjust race relations since slavery.
The movie, based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel of the same name, is an attempt to expose racial injustices via the relationship between whites and their black housekeepers.
Sadly, writer/director Tate Taylor’s film never gains control of its own power because the focus is not on the help at all. Instead, the storyline is essentially devoted to the great white hope that rallies in front of them, urging for the domestics to stand up and be heard.
Even before the end of the opening credits, the distracting legacy of a fictional messiah-like white character continues thanks to The Help.
The film kicks off at the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson, Miss. Black women are invited into the homes of Jackson society women (through the back doors) to raise and nurture their little white children, but not allowed to use the restrooms where they work.
Main character Skeeter returns from college to use her gift for writing to lend a voice to the poor black maids of Jackson– and as a vehicle to usher them into the promised land.
“What if we write a book about the help?” the progressive Skeeter asks her prospective publisher.
She is compelled to do so after observing the efforts to pass a law mandating separate restroom facilities in homes where blacks work as domestics because of health concerns.
Skeeter is scolded by family and friends for being sympathetic to the colored women. As her book becomes a sensation, she is forced to face the repercussions of being a martyr for the maids.
The performances in The Help fare much better than the storyline – more so from the supporting cast than the two leading ladies.
With the weight of the film on her shoulders, Emma Stone’s Skeeter manages to come across as both convincing and sincere. Viola Davis is a bit disconnected and inauthentic as Aibleen, the maid who inspires Skeeter’s bright idea.
But Octavia Spencer’s portrayal as Aibleen’s sassy best friend Minny lights up the screen. Bryce Dallas Howard’s performance as the heartless Hilly Holbrook – catalyst for the “separate but equal” bathroom quarters in the homes where the maids work – is another highlight of the ensemble. Sissy Spacek’s scene stealing cameos as Hilly Holbrook also offer plenty of comic relief.
Audiences are offered an idea of the struggles of black women of the Jim Crow South in the early 1960s, but any in-depth insight is reserved for Skeeter’s personal dilemmas and sacrifices. Several melodramatic sidebars within Skeeter’s circle of family, friends and associates are even thrown in for good measure.
Whether it’s guilt, shame, delusion – or a combination of the three – the story focuses more on Skeeter’s will for these women than the entire community’s laws and actions. The film also fails to recognize the personal sacrifices that “the help” endured for the sake of their family and future generations, just before the crumbling of centuries-old Southern segregation.
The Help opened in theatres nationwide on August 10. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of 137 minutes.
