Review of The Help (2011) by Ethan P — 14 Apr 2016

The Help has incredibly rich characters, an elegant design, an intriguing premise and a lot of passion, but it's guilty of sugar coating the dynamic issues of race and gender issues that it examines. It looks spectacular. The beautiful Southern estates, exquisite dresses and dolled up women have a striking contrast to the dirty, crooked houses and plain uniforms of their maids. Visually, the movie already suggests that there's a disparity between the two. It hammers the point home by constantly insulting the maids, building them separate bathrooms, forcing them to do their bidding. It's a film with a lot of energy and emotion, it's heart-breaking and touching, inspiring and insulting. It had some tragic moments of cruelty, like when Constantine and Abilene get fired, and had some stirring themes of change and acceptance. It was powerful to watch them rise up and take a stand and it was very rewarding to see the hilarious events fallout of their efforts. One of the issues with the film, though, was that it didn't hurt enough. It was offensive and inconsiderate at many points, but racism in the South cut so much deeper than this movie displays. It tends to treat some of the issues in the film like girly gossip rather than the ugliness that actually took place. It handles the issues delicately, which is good and bad.

One thing I didn't particularly like about the film was the inconsistency of the acting. Viola Davis's performance is undeniably incredible. She's a caring women that's been broken by the loss of her son and constant harassment by white people, but she has brief moments where she has a beautiful wide grin and giggles at something or has an intimate moment with the daughter she's hired to take care of. She shows a woman in pain that still has life in her and I really liked that she was willing to sacrifice herself to try to help herself and her people. Emma Stone is also great, but I don't know how if any Southern girl would've been as progressive as her. Her mother has a very rewarding turn at the end and a lot of the other maids give strong performances. The antagonists in the film have no range, though. They are thin, undeveloped characters. The main "villain" wasn't like a nice girl who had a racist, unaccepting side. She was a total bitch who demeaned everyone and acted very superficial. She had no depth, it felt like something out of Mean Girls or another high school melodrama. The immaturity of a lot of the women was irritating. The other superficial wives were annoying and unrealistic too, but they're designed to be petty.

It's also interesting how focused the film is on underrepresented groups. Most films focus on males and this film is almost entirely focused on women. Not many films have such dynamic, interesting female performances and even fewer focus on the struggles of African Americans, so I think if nothing else, that should be appreciated. Few films have the courage to do that.