The Help

Composite Score: 82.05

Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O’Reilly, Allison Janney, Anna Camp, Christopher Lowell, Cicely Tyson, Sissy Spacek, Aunjanue Ellis, Mary Steenburgen, and Leslie Jordan

Director: Tate Taylor

Writer: Tate Taylor

Genres: Drama, History, Civil Rights

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material

Box Office: $216.64 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                The Help is the critically acclaimed adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel of the same name, consisting of a fictional account of an aspiring writer’s attempts to shed some light on the plight of African American maids (“the help”) in the 1960s South with the help of two of those maids. The film features strong performances from Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, and Allison Janney as it explores issues of race, feminism, and family through the lens of a period piece. The film contains emotional resonance and an overall positive message that deserves to be heard.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Had The Help been released in 2018, it would have won Best Picture at the Oscars. I know that’s a weird way to start out the critique, but my biggest criticism of The Help is incredibly similar to the criticisms leveled at a certain 2018 release that won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards. When dealing with issues of race in America, this film, Green Book, and a wildly large number of others frame the issue as one that is purely in the past, and that obviously nobody is forcing their maids and other house servants to use different restrooms because of the color of their skin, so we’ve solved it. The Help, in particular, struggles in this area because it is an almost purely fictional account, excluding the event of Medgar Evers’s assassination, so it becomes easy to ignore the patterns in the film’s villains that are still present within society today. Now, in 2011, we were in the midst of the Obama administration in the U.S., and for most white Americans, it seemed like the issue truly had been resolved – the Trayvon Martin shooting had not yet happened, Black Lives Matter did not exist as an organization, and Donald Trump was primarily the host of The Apprentice. In hindsight, The Help’s critical and fan-associated success makes a lot of sense in context. However, in the context of 2022, the film feels somewhat hollow, especially in its utilization of the white savior trope (both in the person of Emma Stone’s Skeeter and Jessica Chastain’s Celia).

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Though its explorations of race and racism have not aged well, the film’s dives into feminism and family dynamics remains fairly strong, if occasionally simplistic. This is a film that features basically only female characters empowering themselves and each other – yes, the villain is also a woman, but it was the 1960s. Basically, the only male character with much to do is Christopher Lowell’s Stuart who acts as a potential love interest for Skeeter until her book is published and then rejects her because the content made him too uncomfortable. (Leslie Jordan also provides some comic relief as Jackson’s chief newspaper editor, but there’s not much else.) This film showcases women with agency and ability in many walks of life – mothers, homemakers, writers, journalists, publishers, wealthy, poor, friends, enemies. In this sense, the film rises above some of its other counterparts by focusing on the roles that women have in effecting change in a community, as both the protagonists and antagonists of the film are very much portrayed as the real movers and shakers of Jackson, MS.

                Coinciding with the feminism is a collection of powerhouse performances from some incredibly talented actresses. Bryce Dallas Howard’s portrayal of the story’s chief antagonist, Hilly Holbrook, works so well as she is able to portray the prom queen turned racist housewife in a way that makes it impossible not to hate her by the film’s end, despite the fact that I personally love Bryce Dallas Howard’s work. Allison Janney’s role as Skeeter’s mother, Charlotte, is a comparatively small one in the scope of the film, but in it, she delivers a performance that sets up her future Emmy and Oscar wins for Mom and I, Tonya, respectively, showcasing both her comedic and detestable capabilities in one fell swoop. Emma Stone’s Skeeter in a similar way gives a preview of her own acting chops that would culminate in an Oscar win down the road. She is quietly confident and consistently charismatic throughout the film, bringing just what the role needs to make the audience love her. Jessica Chastain’s performance as Celia Foote gained her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her equally comedic and tragic portrayal of the potentially unhinged but incredibly empathetic outsider who strikes up a friendship with her maid Minny over the course of the film. Viola Davis also gained an Oscar nomination, but for Best Lead Actress, for her portrayal of Aibileen Clark, the seasoned maid who inspires Skeeter and first works with her to write her book. Davis does what she does best from start to finish in this film, delivering a strong combination of emotional depth and relatability that probably should have won her that year’s Oscar, but Meryl is tough to beat. Finally, Octavia Spencer’s Oscar-winning performance as Minny Jackson brings it all together. She showcases her strength, comedic timing, and sheer emotional range as the audience watches all that her character experiences over the course of the film. Her performance consistently steals each scene she is in, making her win for Supporting Actress make so much sense.

                The Help’s consistently strong performances from its main characters combined with a uniquely feminist take on the issue of race in the 1960s help it remain one of the Greatest Films of All Time. Though its discussion of racism feels somewhat shallow eleven years later, the rest of the film and its performances keep it as a film worth watching. If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t in a while, check it out now streaming on HBO Max.