Based on the New York Times bestselling novel, starring Emma Stone (Zombieland, Superbad) as a young woman who creates a stir in 1960s Mississippi by writing a book that interviews the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent, white southern families.
Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer. Uncomfortable with attitudes toward "the help" - especially with Hilly Holbrooks (Bryce Dallas Howard, Spider-Man 3) and her 'Sanitation Initiative' which proposes a bill to provide separate bathrooms for black maids - Skeeter decides to write a book about the black women who have spent their lives raising white children. Afraid of losing their jobs (or worse), the maids are reluctant to talk. But the floodgates open when Aibileen (Viola Davis, Doubt) opens up, and when the powerful Civil Rights movement spreads to Mississippi.
The Help feels overdone at first, the baddies too evil, the do-gooders too earnest. But as Tate Taylor’s vision of racist 1960s Mississippi emerges, the film’s larger-than-life personality ceases to matter. The Help wears its heart on its sleeve, and history wasn’t comfortable, even as the civil rights movement dawned. It’s a feel-good, revenge-seeking – and yes, shit-eating – satire, the kind that makes you want to shout "go girl!" from the cinema aisle, even if you know what’s coming.
It’s also a moralistic tearjerker of the highest order. Courage, doing what’s right, taking a stand for those who don’t have a voice – these are the core themes of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel and they’re adapted in broad, big-budget form here, with Emma Stone as the brave society girl keen to expose the plight of the city’s black maids serving white families. It’s thanks to the film’s leading ladies that the film steers mostly clear of saccharine territory.
Stone regularly lights up the screen in youthful fantasies (Superbad, Easy A) but here she shows she’s capable of depth and maturity. She’s almost shown up however by Viola Davis, as quietly dignified maid Aibileen, the brilliant Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life) as sunny outcast Celia, and Bryce Dallas Howard, who puts in a hilarious performance as the film’s villain, Hilly. The Help clocks in at over two hours yet it never lags, and the impact it leaves is of an epic story told with warmth and a sense of intimacy.
By Rebecca Barry Hill, Flicks.co.nz
it was an awesome movie and no movie is better then the the help
Alot of truth in this movie and even in society today in some respects. Good story which kept you watching all the way through.
This moving film deals with the reality of racism in Mississippi in the 1960s. Being in the South of the US, Mississippi was one of the states where a clear separation between white and black was very strong for many years - unfortunately way after the Black Civil Rights Movie happened. Sure, the film is fairly predictable, but in the great emancipatory moment, you want to stand up and cheer! It was a really nice touch, though, to not end the film on that moment but to bring the tale back to reality. Unfortunately, racism is still rampant in much of the American South, even in the 21st century.
This movie was very well done, they couldn't have done much better. One that can be watched over and over! Love it!
It was good, moving and thought provoking but not, personal opinion, amazing.
Shot like an inductee in the Hallmark Hall Of Fame, The Help covers an ugly era in superficial gloss...
This is a good film, involving and wonderfully acted.
This self-conscious and self-congratulatory portrait of the Jim Crow South does at least contain two magnificent, award-worthy performances.
The movie exists within an emotionally charged landscape sometimes too starkly black and white — there is no room for ambiguity at this table.
If the movie’s director, Tate Taylor, had his way, your tear ducts would be sucked dry by that big finish...
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 15th Sep 2011.
Release date: September 15th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
