The Help (2011)
Despite not following films nearly as much as I do now, back in 2011 I remember hearing so much regarding The Help. This was a film that everyone seemed to be talking about and celebrating. The Help follows a woman by the name of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) who wants to be a writer. She wants to make a difference in the world around her and decides to set off and gather the stories of hardship and pain that the African American community of the 1960s have to suffer. Specifically, she wants to meet with those working as maids but this is hard, most African American women are against talking to her due to how power dynamics were at the time and the law itself looks to stop her as it is illegal for her to be conducting these interviews. She meets Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) and the project gets going.
Where there was overall praise for the movie and it found plenty of nominations the main thing it was rewarded for was it's acting and it is pretty easy to see why. Easily performances like the ones given by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were the highlights of the film for me. Seeing where they both have gone it should come as no shock that they perform with such a high level of talent and quality. They are skilled to bring tremendous emotion but also being able to hold back without killing that emotion, at this time these women were not given a chance to let loose and decompress their emotions so they are not given a ton of chances for big scenes full of screaming and crying. Sure there is some of that but most of the time the anger and sadness have to be repressed which they both do a marvelous job at. Emma Stone is also overall really good from an acting perspective but I do have to say some of her elements in the film as a character did come off as a bit questionable. I do think if this film was to release in 2019 there would be plenty of conversations surrounding her character similar to the conversations surrounding her similar to the conversations surrounding Tony Lip in Green Book last year, but still, for the character she is given and the role she has to play she does a good job.
The film also is a pretty interesting look at life in this time period. There has been plenty of movies that touched on African American life at this time but I found this movie to explore it in some really interesting and eye-opening ways. Seeing how powerless these women were is definitely impactful as they struggle to make ends meet. I also will say this is the portion where Emma Stone's character really does also add something to the plot as you see how helpless she also is, she wants to help but similar to the maids the law prevents her from truly doing this the way she wants to. It is an interesting perspective that we don't normally see and I thought was overall handled nicely. The production elements are of course also really strong, from the costumes to the sets this film really does transport you into this time period and where there is nothing here overly remarkable or original considering this is a time period often explored it is done well.
The film also is a pretty interesting look at life in this time period. There has been plenty of movies that touched on African American life at this time but I found this movie to explore it in some really interesting and eye-opening ways. Seeing how powerless these women were is definitely impactful as they struggle to make ends meet. I also will say this is the portion where Emma Stone's character really does also add something to the plot as you see how helpless she also is, she wants to help but similar to the maids the law prevents her from truly doing this the way she wants to. It is an interesting perspective that we don't normally see and I thought was overall handled nicely. The production elements are of course also really strong, from the costumes to the sets this film really does transport you into this time period and where there is nothing here overly remarkable or original considering this is a time period often explored it is done well.
Unfortunately past that this film does feel overall forgettable to me. Where there are some interesting elements in setting up this time period and the struggles these women faced once we actually got the plot going it felt pretty standard and cliched. There really wasn't a ton of messages here that I can call new or original or particularly impactful. The runtime is also just way too long, the film runs at nearly 2 and a half hours and there really is no reason for this. If it was an hour and a half I would have thought the film was an overall fine time telling an important message despite not necessarily being new. Being 2 and a half hours I felt myself getting extremely bored by the movie and felt the minutes go by. If there was some new and engaging side to the plot of this movie to really hook me I am sure it wouldn't have stood out as so negative but you know exactly where this movie is going the entire time and the cliches in the plot just stand out far too much to be sucked in enough for this longer runtime.
Overall I am sure back in 2011 I would have been a bit more positive on The Help. As I mentioned there are some really strong performances and the actual setting of the film is quite effective and interesting. The story though really lacks as it just falls into a bland message we have seen time and time again in much more captivating ways. Where I am far from saying I hated The Help is is one that I don't see myself revisiting anytime soon.
Overall I am sure back in 2011 I would have been a bit more positive on The Help. As I mentioned there are some really strong performances and the actual setting of the film is quite effective and interesting. The story though really lacks as it just falls into a bland message we have seen time and time again in much more captivating ways. Where I am far from saying I hated The Help is is one that I don't see myself revisiting anytime soon.