The Help

Movie • 2011


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  • Overview

    Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.


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Found on the web

Roger Ebert

I was drawn into the characters and quite moved, even though all the while I was aware it was a feel-good fable, a story that deals with pain but doesn't care to be that painful.

rogerebert.com/reviews/the-help-2011

The Hollywood Reporter

Where The Help succeeds magnificently though is in character portraits by actresses Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.

hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/help-film-review-219915/

NPR

The center of The Help is Davis, who has eyes unlike other actress's. They're hard, unyielding, with no giveback.

npr.org/2011/08/10/139086532/heavy-handed-help-saved-by-great-acting

Los Angeles Times

'The Help' is a delicious peppery stew of home-cooked, 1960s Southern-style racism that serves up a soulful dish of what ails us and what heals us.

latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-aug-10-la-et-the-help-20110810-story.html

The Guardian

Viewed as an airbrushed, Dettol-heavy fairytale, however, it's rousingly effective.

theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/27/the-help-film-review

Variety

The film personalizes the civil rights movement through the testimony of domestic servants, but its real success lies in its nuanced, character-driven portrayal of the era's racial dynamics.

variety.com/2011/film/reviews/the-help-1117945766/#!

The Guardian

The movie is facile, not a little patronising, and it ends up as crude and sentimental.

theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/30/the-help-viola-davis-review

IMDb

This is an incredible film that not only pays justice to the bestseller on which it's based, but is phenomenally cast, with exceptional performances.

imdb.com/title/tt1454029/