REVIEW: THE HELP: PG-13

I saw "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" last week and was pretty impressed by it.  I was going to write up a review talking about how much I liked it and how great Andy Serkis was as Caesar, the ape responsible for the whole "Planet of the Apes" thing and how the characters came in 2nd to the awesome visual effects, but then I saw "The Help" just yesterday.  And it blew my mind.

The film, as one might already know, is the adaptation of the "wildly popular" bestselling novel about maids in the South and how one rambunctious woman tries to put their predicament into a book and reach the nation to tell how these maids are struggling.  The novel was probably popular with adults, no one my age that I know of has ever read or heard of the book "The Help."  Maybe due to its subject matter; the book is very racially charged and has several uses of racist terminology.

The movie's mood reminds me of several other racially charged films, such as "American History X" and "Crash."  But those films were more modern takes of racism in America today, where this is going back, not to the very root of racism, but where African-Americans started gaining their rights; in the 1960's.  We're introduced to Abilene Clark, a black maid who is nearly what her grandmother was almost a century ago: a slave to the snotty, diabolical Hilly Holbrook, played with such perfect rudeness and fearlessness from Bryce Dallas Howard that it will be an injustice if she isn't nominated for at least a Golden Globe this award season.  Along with Abilene is her sidekick and frequently funny fellow maid Minny, played by a winning Octavia Spencer who might also garner a Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

But who really anchors the film are its two main stars: Emma Stone, portraying a wide-eyed Skeeter who tries to get the real story from the maids so she can show America what goes on behind locked doors of rich, white homes, and Viola Davis, the fierce but restraint Abilene.  When Hilly is being so cruel yet cool behind her scathing, green eyes and just asking Abilene for a punch in the face, Abilene keeps her composure and just nods politely like a real trooper.  The strength of these woman is unbelievable, and you realize while these arrogant socialites are out living the high life, the housemaids are almost 2nd mothers, if not real mothers to their children, who are all but left behind.  They don't just maintain the house, but they raise the children, only for the children to grow up and come to show the resentment towards black maids that their parents instilled in them. 

The film is consistently heart-warming and heartbreaking.  Director Tate Taylor shows a stunning debut and great promise for things to come.  The film, an epic of the black maid's eventual freeing of not only their oppressive jobs but the burdens that go along with their position in the social world, is a must-see, and for sure one of the best movies of the year and a definite early contender for this year's Oscars. 

Rating: 9.5/10