A Movie Review on "The Help"

The Help is an American drama that shows about the situation that the African-American maids face in the capital city of the state of Mississippi, Jackson. The movie was directed by Tate Taylor and was adapted from Kathryn Stockett's book of the same name. The movie's main cast consists of Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howards, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, and Ahna O'Reilly.

In the city of Jackson, most of the maids are African-American women who work under white households. But as they work, they face discrimination and ill-treatment from their employers due to their dark complexion. Such is the case of Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, colored maids serving their own respective white households where they also experience discrimination. But, things may finally change when Eugenia Phelan, an aspiring journalist and a friend of their employers, aims to write a book based on the first-hand experiences that the maids have with their employers to spread awareness of the racism they endure with.

Tate Taylor did a great job in directing the film. The ambiance of the 1960s was depicted very well from the sceneries to the actors and actresses' portrayal of the people back then. Especially Octavia Spencer who did a splendid job portraying Minny Jackson, a woman, despite facing discrimination from her previous employer and abuse from her husband, stood courageously and did not back down for what she is fighting for. And also Bryce Dallas Howards' portrayal of Ms. Hilly's righteous character and very annoying behavior towards the African-American maids. Her 1960s accent was on point too. In my opinion, the very memorable and entertaining scene of this movie was the interaction of both the actresses' characters. It was when Minny went back to let Ms. Hilly, her former employer, eat her signature pie which she really loved-only to find out that it contained Minny's poop. I cannot also forget Viola Davis' acting on her character Aibileen. She portrayed the loving care of a mother, who in spite of the death of her son from white people, has directed her love instead to her white employer's child. Breaking the barriers between the two colors. The line she always says to the kid will be a line that I will never forget, "You is kind, you is smart, you is important". A line that she repeats all the time to comfort the child from her mom's lack of attention towards her. This line says so many things. Although it is grammatically incorrect in order to roughly imitate how some black people would speak, it feels very warm to the heart and something a person would want to say in order to tell a person that he/she does not have an insignificant existence.

The movie contains themes that I think it wants people to be more aware: racism towards African-American people and women empowerment. Throughout the movie, there were multiple scenarios that showed the racism the white people have towards black people. One example was when Ms. Hilly, Minny's employer, sent a letter to the Home Health Sanitation Initiative to make a separate bathroom for colored maids so that they will not use the main bathroom in fear of making their own bathrooms dirty. Another one was when Minny wanted to go to the bathroom, but she was afraid to go outside where her exclusive bathroom is found because of the heavy storm. Even though Ms. Minny knew this, she did not allow Minny to let her use the bathroom within the house. And so, when Minny used the bathroom within the house, she was fired immediately. But despite all this ill-treatment, these African-American maids never yielded to their employer's discrimination. Therefore, another theme that the movie wanted to show was women empowerment. These maids were supporting their own families like Minny, even though she gets abused by her husband. Or when Skeeter who was portrayed by Emma Stone to be a very independent woman, had broken up with her boyfriend because of the book that she published, but she did not succumb to this and stayed true to her ideals and moved on. These show that women can stand and fight for themselves-even without the help of men or the discrimination that they receive.

It rarely happens in the movie industry that a movie is about a controversial topic such as racism. And I believe that Tate Taylor, the movie's director, and Kathryn Stockett, the writer of the book where the movie was adapted from, did what they can to raise awareness on the racism towards the African-American people as Kathryn Stockett herself had seen the racism of white people towards black people. I got want they wanted to go through with this movie, therefore, I believe that they succeeded. We should treat people of other colors similarly like our own. They should not be discriminated and judged merely for their outward appearance. I have even seen characters such as Aibilieen who was such an inspiring character throughout the film, taking care of a white child that is not of her own. Unlike Ms. Elizabeth who never stood up as a mother to her own daughter. I also got that women can stand on their own and that they are not inferior to men. Our society today is mostly patriarchal where men had a higher position in regards to almost everything such as the family or even privilege. Women were one step lower. But this movie proves it wrong. Women are not in a situation where they desperately need a man to live, like Skeeter. I believe that lately, our society is changing and is aiming forward towards equality. And, I believe that this movie can help push that change even more. Therefore I think that this movie is worth a watch as this movie will inspire not only African-American women but every woman regardless of race, and maybe even men to treat every race and gender equally.