The Help (12A)
- Starring: Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Mike Vogel, Allison Janney, Sissy Spacek
- Director: Tate Taylor
- Duration: 137 mins
- Year: 2011
Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, a southern society girl returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a small Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen, Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say.
Reviews
Alison Rowat's Review
Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel set in the Mississippi of the 1960s is given a lavish big-screen retelling sure to please fans. With its mostly female cast and dedication to telling a powerful story in a moving way, Tate Taylor’s film is what they used to call, in a good way, a “women’s picture”.
Though some may wish it was more hard-hitting, for a certificate 12A picture it gets its points across well enough. In a cast that ranges from a toddler all the way up to Sissy Spacek, it is Viola Davis who takes the acting honours as the African-American maid who decides to speak to a writer (Emma Stone) about what it’s like to be a substitute mother to white people’s children yet not be allowed to use the inside bathroom.
Bryce Dallas Howard makes a magnificent queen bitch determined things should stay as they are in the south, while Octavia Spencer is excellent as the maid who takes her on.
Gives in to sun-dappled schmaltz towards the end, but satisfying all the same.