The Help (2011)

Rating: 12A
Director: Tate Taylor
Screenplay: Tate Taylor
Genre: Drama
Starring: Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas-Howard.

Tate Taylor has proved to be ‘one-to-watch’ with his faithful adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s international best-selling novel, The Help, following Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), an aspiring author during 60s America, as she makes the courageous decision to write a book from the point of view of the African-American maids facing the struggles of racism as they work for white families throughout the civil rights movement.
Tate Taylor is barely a toddler in terms of the film industry; The Help being only his third directing credit, and the first to gain much critical acclaim (scoring four Academy Award nominations) for its depth, hilarity and warmth. However, for Taylor, the future is now bright. The film has the correct balance of humour and profoundness, with a script that stays faithful to the novel and a cast that react with one another so well that it is hard to imagine them acting without each other in any future projects.
Well-known for her work in comedies, Stone was the perfect choice for Skeeter – perfectly embodying her ditzy and determined nature with just the right amount of light-hearted wit to relieve The Help of its serious truth. Stone’s performance as Skeeter presents her in an entirely new field, proving she can do more than joke her way through a sketch.
Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) make a wonderful on-screen twosome, providing us with laughs and tears, however it is their individual performances that truly shine. Davis’ Aibileen is endearingly vulnerable beneath her strong armour, taking care of another woman’s white child as she mourns the loss of her own. All the while, Mother, Elizabeth (Ahna O’Reilly) swarms around worrying about dining and dresses, paying as little attention to her ‘baby girl’ as she does the maid.
Aibileen finds a connection in telling Skeeter her stories – no matter how taboo they are. She finds it her responsibility to convince the other maids to tell theirs too – Minny proving to be the hardest to induce.
Spencer is sassy and brash as the no-bullshit Minny, getting her own back at irrational employer, Hilly – played disgustingly callously by Bryce Dallas-Howard - in the most gasp-worthy way, serving up a damn good slice of revenge and establishing by far the funniest moment of the film. Losing her job was the best thing to happen to her as she stumbles upon a job working for the sweet and naive Celia (Jessica Chastain), feeling more freedom and happiness than she has in a long time. Celia, along with Skeeter and the other maids, provide Minny with a release from the violent hard-ships of her home life.
As we embark on the long road with the on-screen team that soon become our friends, we are invited into a sad and engaging world that really opens our eyes to the upsetting truth of a history which effected millions. The film is worthy of your tears, your giggles and your gasps – with a gut-wrenchingly earnest cast, a beautifully composed score (Thomas Newman), together making a film that is lovable, enjoyable and poignant all at once.