THE HELP
5 out of 5 stars

“you is kind. you is smart. you is important.”
– aibileen clark

“fried chicken just tends to make you feel better about life.” – minny jackson

probably one of THE most touching, heartfelt, uplifting stories i’ve seen in a while. when it comes to african american civil rights, there’s something about it that gets you teary-eyed and wondering how far this country has come from the days of good ol’ fashioned racism. however, this isn’t so much a political movie, but a movie about the human spirit, really... octavia spencer, who plays sassy minny, got an oscar for her role, and she totally deserved that oscar gold! BRAVO performances all around including viola davis, emma stone, jessica chastain, and even allison janney! :)

the movie starts out with eugenia “skeeter” phalan (emma stone) interviewing aibileen the maid (an awesome viola davis) in her kitchen in jackson, mississippi in the 1960s. skeeter gets a glimpse of aibileen’s life when she asks how it feels to raise a white child while her own child is being looked after at home, and aibileen responds by describing her connection with mae mobley, the daughter of her employers, the leefolts. she loves that baby with her whole heart, and mae mobley seems to love her back... we then see that skeeter is back in jackson upon graduating from college (she went to ole miss AKA univ. of mississippi), and she decides to interview at the jackson journal so that she could gain some writing experience. (her ultimate goal is to become a novelist at harper and row in NYC) we learn that skeeter comes from a really good family who owns a massive cotton farm/plantation in jackson, and she’s also part of the junior league. (social elite of jackson) the head of this clique happens to be racist hilly holbrook (a bitchy bryce dallas howard), and she and her friends treat their maids really awfully i.e. making them use a seperate bathroom, being verbally abusive, and firing them for unfair reasons. during a bridge game that the junior league is hosting, skeeter asks elizabeth if it’d be OK with her to interview aibileen for her cleaning column, but elizabeth wonders why skeeter can’t interview her own maid. she reveals that her maid, constantine, had quit and moved to chicago...which isn’t entirely true. (we later find out the truth and it’s so hearbreakingly sad...) skeeter’s interviews for cleaning tips then turn into something more when skeeter decides to write a book from the maid’s perspective. what she’s decided to do, of course, is completely illegal in 1960s jackson AKA where the KKK will blindly shoot a colored person for speaking out, but skeeter convinces aibileen to share her life stories with her. pretty soon, minny (a firecracker and extra sassy octavia spencer) joins in, and gives skeeter the ultimate story. (hint: it has to do with a “chocolate” pie :P)

overall, WATCH THIS NOW if you haven’t seen it yet! it’s a wonderful story about how two headstrong maids and a headstrong white girl decide it was time to let the truth out. like i said, it’s a story about the human spirit in a time when racism in this country was tolerated. (such a damn shame...) OUTSTANDING performances all around esp. octavia spencer and viola davis. the character of minny brough the humor, and aibileen was the tears... being black in 1960s jackson wasn’t easy, and boy, you get right down to the core with this. ;) (even moreso than any other civil rights movie)