The Help

Hi everyone! Last Saturday I was a little bit sick so I decided to watch a movie instead of going out with my friends. I read a lot of  film reviews and finally I chose “The Help”. It's an American drama film directed by Tate Taylor and based on the novel of the same name. The action takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The story is about American black women who work as the maids in Southern people’s houses, standing humiliation and racist treatment.

The main character, Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), is a young woman who has just come back from the university to her hometown Jackson, Mississippi. However, it turns out to be a place full of narrow-minded, racist people where black maids are treated as people of inferior category. But Skeeter wants to change their situation. Her dream is to be a journalist and she decides to write their stories. In the beginning, it’s very difficult to convince any maid to talk to a white woman but thanks to Aibileen and Minny, two of the central characters, she finally succeeds.  Skeeter hears breathtaking stories of their everyday life. They show how life of black maids really looked like at that time. They are women who are forced to neglect their own families to take care of white rich women’s children. And what they receive in return? The separate toilet because of the fear of white people catching diseases from them.

The film does not show big struggle against segregation. As I already mentioned, it rather focuses on everyday reality and shows how maids were trying to cope with it. ”The Help” is exceptionally well acted and all the characters are absolutely remarkable. 

Furthermore, even though this film talks about a difficult issue, it can also make you laugh. Thanks to this combination you do not have the feeling of watching politically correct film but a realistic, true story of everyday challenges.

To sum up, I must say that I really liked this film. So if you are seeking an emotionally, well worth seeing film that uses humor to tell a story and send a message, I strongly recommend it.