I just finished watching "The help", a movie based on the novel of Kathryn Stockett. It stars Emma Stone (Skeeter), Viola Davis (Aibileen) and Octavia Spencer (Minny). And believe me, you need to have a handful of tissues with you while watching as it will make you cry bucket of tears. The story can be compared to other best movies about racial inequality but the essence of the story does not focus on those events. The setting is 1960's, the turbulent times on which two important figures who both changed american history were both assassinated, John F. Kennedy on 1963 and Martin Luther King on 1968.
The story revolves around the experiences of the helpers, as the title suggest. Aibileen is a maid for more than 20 years and her present job is also a nanny to Ms.Elizabeth's 2 yr. old daughter. Her friend is Minny who had 5 children and is a maid of Miss Hilly, the Queen bee of Jackson Mississippi. Hilly and Elizabeth are good friends of Skeeter, an aspiring journalist who came from a wealthy family but is being criticized by her friends due to her eccentricity. Skeeter is still single and pursuing a career, on a society where women are just housewives. Hilly is the leader of the housewives and she had pursue to pass a law wherein black maids were not allowed to use the bathroom of their masters because of diseases.
In an era of racial emancipation, the story focuses on the life of the maids, especially Aibileen and Minny. The story is both dramatic, heart wrenching and funny at the same time. The cast are superb on their acting, especially the three main characters. The story is intelligent. Minny, as the tough maid has funny scenes especially when after being fired from her job by Hilly, she had baked a chocolate pie to say sorry to Hilly. As Hilly is eating the pie, she told her " Eat my shit" on which Hilly eventually understands that the pie she is eating is made of Minny's shit. Hilly as the evil queen bee is effective, you gonna hate her manipulations and what she did to her mother. She put her mom in a nursing home because the mom had the decency to laugh on her reactions when she learned what she had eaten. And then, there is the lovable and meek Aibileen. Her story of having taken care of lots of children but was not able to take care of his own son is so heart wrenching that you will feel a mother's love and longing for the things that she was not able to do. My heart also cried out for her when she told Skeeter about his own son's death. But my bucket of tears really happened on the exchange of Aibileen and her little 2 yr. old ward, always telling the girl "You are kind, you are smart, you are wanted" especially when the child would not have the affection of Elizabeth, a mother who shouldn't become one.
I even love the minor character of Celia, a woman not from Jackson whom Johnny married. Johnny is Hilly ex-boyfriend and Celia was blamed for the break up. She is considered a trash by the perfect housewives club on which Hilly is the leader. Her character as the funny and naive Celia who wanted to be accepted by the housewives club is kind of poignant and heartwarming. Her friendship with Minny is also delightful.
Emma as Skeeter is brilliant. I loved her in Zombieland, I admired her in Easy A but I praised her in this movie. Her acting is superb and she really make Skeeter the best love liberated woman in the society where women are just taught to become girlfriends and housewives and to never have a brain but be a shadow of their men. The mother daughter revelation after the release of the book is another tear jerking episode. The mother thanking her daughter for bringing courage into the family, courage her mom wasn't able to do (The mother had fire their maid who worked for them for 29 yrs. for the society's acceptance).
All in all, this is a movie I would definitely recommend to my sister and all men and women out there. I maybe not a black nor a white but I know that in the end, it's not the color of our skin that matters but who are we as a person, as a son/daughter, a husband/wife and as a human being. Full of compassion to our fellowmen and treating them equals. This movie may not be as remarkable as "the color purple" or "the great debaters" but it is an eye opening that in men are created equal and should not be divided by race or social inequality. In our society where the gap between the rich and the poor is very wide, in the end, let us always remember that our life is not measured by what we have but who we wanted to be. And I hope that in the end, we will choose to be someone we can be proud to be.
The story revolves around the experiences of the helpers, as the title suggest. Aibileen is a maid for more than 20 years and her present job is also a nanny to Ms.Elizabeth's 2 yr. old daughter. Her friend is Minny who had 5 children and is a maid of Miss Hilly, the Queen bee of Jackson Mississippi. Hilly and Elizabeth are good friends of Skeeter, an aspiring journalist who came from a wealthy family but is being criticized by her friends due to her eccentricity. Skeeter is still single and pursuing a career, on a society where women are just housewives. Hilly is the leader of the housewives and she had pursue to pass a law wherein black maids were not allowed to use the bathroom of their masters because of diseases.
In an era of racial emancipation, the story focuses on the life of the maids, especially Aibileen and Minny. The story is both dramatic, heart wrenching and funny at the same time. The cast are superb on their acting, especially the three main characters. The story is intelligent. Minny, as the tough maid has funny scenes especially when after being fired from her job by Hilly, she had baked a chocolate pie to say sorry to Hilly. As Hilly is eating the pie, she told her " Eat my shit" on which Hilly eventually understands that the pie she is eating is made of Minny's shit. Hilly as the evil queen bee is effective, you gonna hate her manipulations and what she did to her mother. She put her mom in a nursing home because the mom had the decency to laugh on her reactions when she learned what she had eaten. And then, there is the lovable and meek Aibileen. Her story of having taken care of lots of children but was not able to take care of his own son is so heart wrenching that you will feel a mother's love and longing for the things that she was not able to do. My heart also cried out for her when she told Skeeter about his own son's death. But my bucket of tears really happened on the exchange of Aibileen and her little 2 yr. old ward, always telling the girl "You are kind, you are smart, you are wanted" especially when the child would not have the affection of Elizabeth, a mother who shouldn't become one.
I even love the minor character of Celia, a woman not from Jackson whom Johnny married. Johnny is Hilly ex-boyfriend and Celia was blamed for the break up. She is considered a trash by the perfect housewives club on which Hilly is the leader. Her character as the funny and naive Celia who wanted to be accepted by the housewives club is kind of poignant and heartwarming. Her friendship with Minny is also delightful.
Emma as Skeeter is brilliant. I loved her in Zombieland, I admired her in Easy A but I praised her in this movie. Her acting is superb and she really make Skeeter the best love liberated woman in the society where women are just taught to become girlfriends and housewives and to never have a brain but be a shadow of their men. The mother daughter revelation after the release of the book is another tear jerking episode. The mother thanking her daughter for bringing courage into the family, courage her mom wasn't able to do (The mother had fire their maid who worked for them for 29 yrs. for the society's acceptance).
All in all, this is a movie I would definitely recommend to my sister and all men and women out there. I maybe not a black nor a white but I know that in the end, it's not the color of our skin that matters but who are we as a person, as a son/daughter, a husband/wife and as a human being. Full of compassion to our fellowmen and treating them equals. This movie may not be as remarkable as "the color purple" or "the great debaters" but it is an eye opening that in men are created equal and should not be divided by race or social inequality. In our society where the gap between the rich and the poor is very wide, in the end, let us always remember that our life is not measured by what we have but who we wanted to be. And I hope that in the end, we will choose to be someone we can be proud to be.
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