The Help - Book and Movie Review

 

So "The Help" was finally released in theatres in the UK and I was delighted. I had been looking forward to the movie ever since I read the book while I was in Singapore last year. This is the synopsis from Amazon:

'Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.'

Although the book and movie have received glowing reviews, there are many who feel that the movie in particular 'sugarcoated' the events of the time. Ida Jones on behalf of the Association of Black Women Historians released an open statement here. Others felt that the author downplayed the participation of white males in the segregation of African Americans and disliked the character of Skeeter as the white 'Saviour', this was felt to be due to the inability of the author to truly understand what racism is (see here). These may all be fair criticisms but I still believe that the novel is worth reading. Why? Because I think the strength of the novel lies in the way it depicts the lives of the female characters. 

There are three main characters in the book, Aibileen and Minny (who are African American maids) and Miss Skeeter (an aspiring young white writer). Other characters include Celia Foote (from the wrong side of the tracks compared to the other society women), Hilly Holbrooke (as the arch villain) and Elizabeth Leefolt (Aibileen's employer). The novel explores themes of love, friendship, racism, society, class, fear and courage. In the book and the movie my favourite character by far was Aibileen. I though Viola Davis' performance was outstanding. However in the movie I quite liked the character of Hilly's mother, played by Sissy Spacek. I was somewhat disappointed by Emma Stone's performance of Ms Skeeter. I found her to be a bit too petulant at times and felt that the role may have been miscast as Miss Skeeter was not supposed to be beautiful!


Although I felt that the movie was a fair representaton of the book in many parts, there were some differences that I felt took away from the movie's authenticity (note spoiler alert!) I felt that they should have shown the real reason why Miss Skeeter's childhood maid Constantine ended up leaving (i.e. due to the problem caused by her 'pass for white' daughter) and that they should not have changed the fact that Ms Skeeter's mum never really accepted her daughter for who she was. It was funny that Celia Foote was shown to have cooked a meal for Minny (it is my understanding that she never gained competence in the kitchen) although it made for quite a heart warming scene. I didn't think that the movie needed to be more heavy handed as although subtle, the audience was quite clear about the indignities that these women had to suffer on a daily basis. At the end of the movie the audience in the theatre sat in stunned silence for several minutes watching the closing credits. For me, that summed up why the movie was such a success. Personally I would give the book five out of five hearts and the movie 8/10. Go see it!

I will end with these two quotes.


"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."- George Santayana

"You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been." (quote variant)


Enjoy your day lovely people. What did you think of The Help?


P.S. Other books that I plan to read now include

Like one of the Family: Conversations from A Domestic’s Life, Alice Childress

The Book of the Night Women by Marlon James 

A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight 

P.P.S. You can buy it by clicking below