A wrenching account of racism in ‘60s Mississippi, there was nothing subtle about Katheryn Stockett’s best-selling novel The Help, and in that sense Tate Taylor’s adaptation remains true to its source material. Eschewing any nuance, The Help’s characters are cartoonish archetypes. A cancer subplot is mercilessly milked for tears. It’s pure Oprah’s Book Club schtick, with one race’s journey to equality inspiring a woman’s journey to self-enlightenment.
However, despite being a crude and whitewashed account of a harrowing era, The Help is elevated by moving performances from a wonderful cast. Though superficially focused around idealistic Civil Rights reporter Barbie Skeeter (the charming Emma Stone), this truly is an ensemble piece. Viola Davis shines as a soft-spoken maid who reluctantly reveals the shocking treatment of her peers; Octavia Spencer provides buckets of sass, while Jessica Chastain will break hearts as a loveable ditz whose own outsider status has taught her how to be colour-blind.
Another star of the film is Mississippi itself, which is shot lushly and lovingly by Jackson native Taylor. Indeed the film serves as both a love letter and condemnation of a place undergoing a belated transformation. Ultimately it’s hard to be overly-critical of a Disney adaptation of a best-selling beach book. It’s an innocent film, but not insultingly so. And though it may address its complex themes too simply, too broadly (and for 30 minutes too long), it will reach, please and affect a huge audience – providing equal measures of indignation and inspiration to those looking only to be entertained. For others, there’s enough in the themes themselves – if not their exploration – to inspire thought and conversation about how suspicion and prejudice are forces that still need to be fought.