The Help

The Help Review

The bestselling book by Kathryn Stockett was adapted into a film in 2011 by Tate Taylor. The film is about a young writer who tries to get her big break in the journalism business by writing a story from the point of view from the maids around town. In 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, sharing her life experiences and secrets, as a black maid, was the last thing on Aibileen’s mind. But as a driven journalist, Skeeter was determined to get the story. They both knew that this book meant risky business but they didn’t know what consequences the future would hold for them, and the town.

As Taylor’s first box office hit, he did not disappoint. Having been friends with Stockett since kindergarten, you could tell he knew what elements would capture the essence of the book. Not only did Viola Davis (Aibileen) and Emma Stone (Skeeter) act in such a way to make you feel like you wanted to speak your mind and change the world, but the technical components collaborated with the actors that contributed to this feel.

The opening scene gives the audience a sense of secret, or containment. There is no music, just the sound of something sizzling on the stove while a quiet Aibileen is answering personal questions given by a voice at night in a rackety old house. This set the mood by letting us know we weren’t watching the lives of the prestigious “white people”. The use of lighting in the movie mirrors how society was back then: seemingly perfect and sunny during the day but the ugly truth comes out at night. It then jump cuts to a narrative by Aibileen, where the audience gets a chance to walk in her shoes. I think this is important because the audience won’t know how important the actions are until they know what Aibileen’s witnessed. From there the story meets up with the opening scene and travels through Aibileen’s journey, now with us. Taylor’s close-ups throughout the movie show the audience how the characters are truly feeling despite how they say they are feeling. The soundscape of the movie required little music as the sound environment put you in that place. A phenomenal job by Taylor was done to capture the story about the point of view of “the help”, while putting the audience ourselves in that same point of view.