The Help - Coming August 12, 2011 (US)

Director - Tate Taylor

Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan - Emma Stone
Aibileen Clark - Viola Davis
Minny Jackson - Minny Jackson

The Help is based on a best selling novel by Katheryn Stockett of the same name, and if you watch carefully when you go to see it, you can see her in the audience of what I'm guessing is Church.

Its no secret that there were many many injustices suffered by people of colour in the United States even 100 years after the end of the Civil War in 1865. The Help, set in the 1960s explores some of the injustices that were still rampant. To quote Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan, played by Emma Stone, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite young actresses in Hollywood: "These women raise white children. We love them and they love us but they can't even use the toilets in our houses." That was a harsh reality in many places in the south, like Jackson Mississippi where The Help is set.

Eugenia is a young woman who lands a job writing for The Jackson Journal and decides she wants to write an article from the viewpoint of 'The Help'. Of course, the people that fall under the category of 'The Help' are reluctant to open up at first. The opinions these women had about the people they worked for was, for obvious reason, kept between themselves. The term 'smile and nod' was very apt. But eventually, Aibileene Clark (Viloa Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) start the ball rolling, and soon 'Skeeter' has enough material to write a book. A book which causes quite the stir in her home of Jackson.

This looks like it will be a thoroughly enjoyable movie, one that will make people think and hopefully remember.

A Quote from Katie Couric's notebook on April 12;
"In a new poll, 48 percent of American's said the Civil War was mainly about states' rights, and just 38 percent said it was about slavery. Time clearly works like a Mederma for the mind...fading an ugly scar of truth."

I don't think that these scars should fade, for 'those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

I think movies like The Help are as important to the human condition as movies like Fast Five are to the bottom line, and I hope very much that people like Katheryn Stockett will continue to write books like this, directors like Tate Taylor will continue to work on projects like this, and actors like Emma Stone will continue to see how important it is to tell these stories, even 150 years after the start of the US Civil War, and 50 years after the time when stories, like that told in The Help were everyday life for many.

Of course, you can expect that this story will have a happy ending, and I would assume, that although The Help is a work of fiction, there were probably many stories of courageous people who were willing to stand up and share the truth. We have come a long way as far as civil rights here in the western world since the 1960s, and how could that have happened without people willing to speak up and dispel the ignorance that many seemed so content to live in?

This movie is very high on my 'to see' list.