The Help

The Help was originally a best-selling book, and then it became a movie. Now, I have both read the book and seen the movie, twice, and both are excellent, though I would have to say that the book is better as is so often the case. The book is quite complex, told from the point of view of Skeeter, Abileen and Minny and the subplots are numerous and most had to cut from the film. One subplot that they keep in is the short-lived relationship that Skeeter has, which made no sense to me, as it helped the movie little and that time that the movie spent dealing with that issue could have been time spent devoted to something else that aided the movie so much more. Still, the cast is among the best of the year.
The main plot of the film is Skeeter (a great Emma Stone) struggling to become a writer in the 1960s Jackson, Mississippi when most other women stayed at home, played bridge and had children. Then Skeeter stubbles upon the idea of writing a book from the point-of-view of the help. And after some initial reluctance, she finds and opens up the lost soul of Abileen (a wonderful Viola Davis, emotions forever eteched in her face), still reeling from the devastating loss of her young son. Abileen tells Skeeter her stories and they both grow from them. And then Abileen's best friend, a feistly Minny gets involved, adding comic relief and tons more great stories to the film.
Minny works for two terribly different women through the course of the film. In the beginning she is working for Skeeter's good friend, Hilly (a perfectly nasty Bryce Dallas Howard) but then after using the toilet that belonged to the white owners was fired and then finds work from Hilly's own personal nemesis, Celia Foote, who lives far away from town in a large, fancy house all by herself (and her husband who used to date Hilly). Celia does want a maid, but not in the same way that Hilly does, she really wants a friend and tries to treat Minny as an equal. Minny is, after all, the only one she can really talk to. Jessica Chastain, who portrayed Celia, is simply marvelous, and unfortunately for Octavia Spencer (Minny), steals all the scenes that she is in.
In the end, most of the plot lines get solved though some seem much more out of the blue than others. In the movie, the intensity of Minny's abusive husband is not given the importance it needs, but you still feel for all involved, all products of their time, some rise above it, others sink below it. In this film, there are no real winners, everyone loses something, but most (with the exception of the nasty Hilly and her meak friend Elizabeth) gain much more, independence. Grade: A-