THE HELP Review: As Satisfying as Fried Chicken and Just Deserts

It may not be the kind of civil rights battle we’re used to seeing on our screens, but Jacksonville society in its petty bigotry and social pressures is, for many, a more tangible reality, and the acts of bravery and rebellion more enjoyable for it.

By Fiona Scoble / October 28, 2011

rating: 4

Southern belles and grits, fried chicken and stifling heat, milkshake bars and Jim Crow laws announce that this is early 1960s Mississippi, and although Bob Dylan is singing about it, times dont look like they are achangin here anytime soon. The dangerous and illusory separate but equal laws controlling segregated society in the state mean that black people are pressed firmly into the role of second class citizens. These laws are aided by long ingrained hypocrisy in the heart of the society; middle class white women habitually keep black maids who virtually raise their children for them, yet these maids are mistrusted and even considered to carry diseases that warrant providing them with a separate blacks only toilet. Returning to this stifling and rotten atmosphere is Skeeter, recent graduate and would-be journalist played by Emma Stone. Skeeter manages to land a job writing a household advice column for a local paper, and hides her ignorance of this subject by asking a friends maid, Aibileen, for advice. Uncomfortable with her white friends casual racism, Skeeter persuades Aibileen to help her create a book that documents the experiences of black maids in the town. The fried chicken and coiffed hair stereotypes that stud the landscape suggest that this film could have strayed into being a little too cliché and flat. Fortunately The Help, like the book the film is based on, the characters inhabiting this scene are alive with humour and pep. Viola Davis subtly captures Aibileens huge abilities for kindness and justice which battle alongside the docile attitude she has been forced to adopt. Aibileens quick-tempered and outrageous friend Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) is the character most likely to have audiences hooting with laughter. She is bubbling with anger and mischief and the urge to sass mouth any white employer who crosses the line. Its a simple narrative structure with easily recognisable goodies and baddies. Leading the baddies is prim and popular Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard), president of the Junior League in Jackson, and a leading voice in enforcing segregation. Her foil is her own maid Minny, who Hilly mistreats into exacting a joyously childish revenge. The crusade for good is quietly headed by Skeeter. Emma Stone, known for characters that offer a dose of humour, cynicism and teenage rebellion, is great in this more mature role. The full extent of the racist violence that surrounded the civil rights movement only occasionally penetrates into Jacksonville through snatches of TV and radio. It might be argued that a story that deals with such a turbulent era through toilets, cake and maids stories, is shying away from reality. However, perhaps the reason the book and film have caused such a stir in the US is precisely because they are confined to the domestic front. This is the side of civil rights that most people in the US would have related to; many would have kept black maids at this time, and it is casual, non-violent racism that is often the most difficult to recognise and destroy. Humour abounds in this overtly female story, and bravery and kindness are celebrated without straying into schmaltz. The characters are full of life, believable, and hugely enjoyable. It may not be the kind of civil rights battle were used to seeing on our screens, but Jacksonville society in its petty bigotry and social pressures is, for many, a more tangible reality, and the acts of bravery and rebellion more enjoyable for it. The Help is released today in the U.K.