The Help delivers with story of courage and strength

SHANA SCHWARZ ~ SPECIAL FOR THE FOOTHILLS FOCUS~ 8/17/2011

I had a feeling I’d like The Help. I’ve been meaning to read the book for a while now, but just didn’t get around to it in time.  Luckily, I was assured by a few ladies who have read it that the movie was a great representation of Kathryn Stockett’s novel. And, whether or not it was, it is an excellent movie on its own merits, and I highly recommend it.
Besides being a fantastic ensemble film full of great performances by one amazing woman after another, local girl Emma Stone shines and does our great state proud once more with an exceptionally well-delivered performance.  It would be easy to devote an entire paragraph to each woman in The Help, quite honestly, but perhaps that is overkill.  I will say this, though; I fell in love with every character that I was supposed to love, and hated uber-villain Hilly Holbrook, played to icy, evil perfection by Bryce Dallas Howard.  The phrase “if looks could kill” came to mind scene after scene, and it will be hard for me to see her in a nice role ever again without shuddering.
The rest of the cast is superb as well, with veterans Sissy Spacek and Cicily Tyson giving seasoned supporting performances, while always awesome Allison Janney, feisty Octavia Spencer and heart-breakingly convincing Viola Davis round out the middle generation of women, on the cusp of major social change.  Another stand-out would have to be Jessica Chastain, who plays fragile and ostracized Celia Foote, a woman just trying to survive the social constraints of the South, an uphill battle, for sure. 
The story follows several women on both sides of the Civil Rights Movement, as it plays out in Jackson, MI in the 1960s.  With racial tensions heating to a boiling point, many white families with hired black maids rely on their “help” to raise their children, clean their houses, and cook their meals. From racism comes stupidity and fear, and a movement to keep black people from using white toilets pushes Skeeter (Emma Stone) over the edge from silent observer to active rebel when she decides to write a book from the point of view of the help, a risky and never-before-attempted undertaking.  As the stories come out, the murders of several prominent members of the state and country lay the background for what must have been a terrifying time to live through for those on the right side of the fight.
The movie runs just about 2 and ½ hours, but never feels long or slow.  It’s got that Steel Magnolias, Southern-women-solidarity feel to it, but with a much deeper social message, it shouldn’t be chalked up as a chick flick.  The trailers that I’ve seen painted a slightly more light-hearted picture than the one I watched, as the seriousness of the Civil Rights Movement permeates every frame.  Stories like these need to be told, again and again, if for no other reason than to ensure that every generation to come learns from the mistakes of its fathers; or, in this case, its mothers.