The Help: One Person Can Create Change
BIRMINGHAM (WWJ) – The Help is the kind of movie that'll get people talking. In fact, it already has. People everywhere are talking about it, because long before The Help became a movie with a stellar cast, it became a New York Times' best-selling novel.
The Help is set in the 1960s and takes place in Jackson, Mississippi. It chronicles the relationship between three very different women, "who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk."
While The Help is an ensemble movie, the three women at center stage are Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone), Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer).
When Skeeter returns home after graduating from Ole Miss, she lands a job at The Jackson Journal, writing the "Miss Myrna" cleaning-hints column. Not having any experience as a housekeeper, Skeeter turns to her best friend's maid, Aibileen, for advice. Soon after, Aibileen begins to open up to Skeeter, telling stories about her life cleaning houses and also about the tragic death of her only son, who was killed in an accident. Eventually, Minny is convinced to tell her stories, too, and soon – with the fight for Civil Rights heating up – dozens more maids decide to join the effort, which turns into Skeeter's first book.
Needless to say, when Skeeter's book is published, it gets plenty of attention and causes difficult moments for the very maids who feared it would before they eventually agreed to tell their stories. But, as the producers point out, "the power of one person with one idea can create change." And create change it does.
The Help is rated PG13. In addition to Stone, Academy Award ® nominee Davis and Spencer, it features Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, Emmy ® Award winner Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Oscar ® winner Sissy Spacek, Academy Award ® nominee Cicely Tyson and Mike Vogel. In theaters now.
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