The Help

"Courage sometimes skips a generation. Thank you for bringing it back to our family."

Life in Jackson, MS doesn't change.  Black maids raise and care for white children, and then the children grow up and turn into their parents.  This is the status quo for Abileen (Davis), who has a knack for babies until they reach a certain age.  Abileen lost her own son, and since his death she has been working for the Leefolts.

Mrs. Leefolt's (O'Reilly) best friends are Hilly Holbrook (Howard) and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Stone).  Hilly runs the social circles with an iron fist, keeping everyone on task and under her thumb.  Her mother (Sissy Spacek) employs the best cook in town, Minny (Spencer).  Minny is outspoken and is fired, with only one option left: Celia Foote (Chastain) the social outcast.

Skeeter doesn't want the same life as her friends, she has big dreams.  Skeeter finished college and is looking for a writing job.  A New York editor suggests Skeeter find a unique topic for her writing.  She wants to write about the perspective of the help, and asks Abileen and Minny to talk about their experiences as maids.  Since it's against the law, what will happen if people find out what they're doing?

I read the book ("The Help" by Kathryn Stockett), based on a glowing recommendation from my mother.  She read it because everyone in her boss' family had just finished the book and loved it.  So I dove right in.  The book was a powerful, well-written story that I couldn't put down.  Meanwhile, many of our friends saw the movie and raved about it.  So after my roommate finished the book, we decided to spend the $8 to see the movie in theaters, and took along a friend that had not read the book.

Our take: you should wait to read the book AFTER you see the movie.  My friend loved the movie, while my roommate and I had lukewarm feelings about it.  The movie is good, but if you've read the book you will disappointed by the changes.  People that see the movie first, enjoy both and find that the book explains some situations better (obviously there is more detail in the book).

With my literature background, I am a book purist.  I like my film adaptations to remain true to the original literature.  There are exceptions, but I tend to prefer the book.  Obviously you can't fully flesh out the story in a 2 hour movie, and to faithfully adapt a novel to the screen involves making it much longer (like a mini-series), but I hate when filmmakers change a character or scene to make it more friendly to a mass audience.

The movie takes a lighter look at the plot of the book.  There are still serious moments, but other aspects of the story focus more on the humor of the situation.  Some characters / plotlines are condensed or removed or replaced with new scenes that have the same general feel.  Overall I wasn't bothered by the changes, but there were a few that stood out.  First, they changed the Constantine plot slightly (the daughter), to keep one character likeable.  Also, they took out one of my favorite Celia scenes, when she defends Minny.  The scene in the book clearly lays out who Celia is, and cements her relationship with Minny.  The scene was replaced with Celia tending to a cut on Minny's face... same premise, but the book version is better.


The cast is great and fully embody their roles.  Viola Davis and Emma Stone carry the film, while Octavia Spencer gets to say the things that everyone wants to say.

A decent film ... but the book is better.

The Help (2011) 146 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for thematic material
Director: Tate Taylor
Starring: Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan
Viola Davis as Abileen Clark
Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook
Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson
Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote
Ahna O'Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt