The Help Review

I am always incredulous about judging a book by the film adaptation but i think that this has a story line that could only have been written by a author who understands the animosities at this time. For this reason, i enjoyed THE HELP. It is set in a time when racism was everywhere; the 1960s. It includes lots of candid history. You see the bigotry attitudes were not just against the black people but also against the women who worked and people who wanted to class black people as equal to white. 

The film follows the story of Skeeter, an independent, white aspiring author (unexpectedly Emma Stone), who has humourlessly been given a column in a local magazine on cleaning, which she is entirely clueless about. She was given this job after acclaiming a degree instead of a husband (much to her mother's disappointment). Her new project is to interview the black female servants that raise white women's children and look after their houses for many years. They aren't allowed to use the same toilet as the white people and are treated unfairly. Only Aibileen, the housekeeper of Skeeter's best friend, will talk at first. As the pair continue the collaboration, more women decide to come forward and tell their story. The interviews eventually turn into a book. Skeeter's friends are appalled that she is mixing with the lower classes. The film includes how little power some of the men had in their homes. Women were above men in the household but not outside. 

THE HELP takes the idea of unexpected friendships and puts it into historical context. It was interesting to see that Skeeter didn't want to do what other people wanted her to. The way that she reacted to discipline varied. I learnt a lot about the history and the mind set of people at this time. I was not aware that Emma Stone could play such a serious role but still invoke her personality into the character. Overall, her character was whimsical and confident. I liked her. For a film like this, i would have preferred if there was no 'lovey doveyness' but near the ending, she does find a man (he looks a bit like Zac Efron so i don't mind too much). I think the other characters were astoundingly believable. Not one character was similar to another. The film somethings broke away from the strictly serious scenes to incorporate farce. Wait for the toilets in the garden scene...

3 and a half out of 5

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Side note: Just wanted to say that i am aware that i review the most cliche films and they are all very modern and have a-list actors in. I am a film aficionado, which means i love every single film no matter what. Every film interest me and i always want to know how they are made and who came up with the ideas. Film is like art to me. Every single film i watch i review, which shows that films that have been on television lately have been all the modern ones and the ones in the cinema have been biopics. Soon i will start reviewing more alternative films because they are compelling and challenging to review. I prefer films that are not modern but i feel like they are helping me develop my film critic voice.