THE HELP - movie review

Possibly, everybody you know has had this book on the list at this year's book clubs. Now is the time to celebrate. Everyone can group together to see Katheryn Tate's novel made into a movie.

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This film in a piece of history that needs attention and yet to be savored. The story takes place during the riots in Mississippi back in the 60's. The movie certainly shows the nostalgia of the era. Showing from style to where 'colored' were guided to go, in the theater or just to the bathroom. It hits a certain nerve of what a work force was put through. The fact remains it was never easy to say the civil war was over, in spite of measured decades and other wars. The tension is exposed through the story of Aibiline played by Violia Davis as a maid for the white folk in Jackson, Mississippi. Of course, her story might not have been possible if it hadn't been for a white girl named Skeeter (Emma Stone) who wanted Elaine Stein (Mary Steenburgen), a magazine editor back East (who hasn't a clue what Skeeter and the maids are going through in the south) to hear this piece of Americana that little knew of.

Truly, a fine tuned cast. The costuming and setting is so mesmerizing. This has to be one of Bryce Dallas Howard's finest performances as the cold harted Hilly Holbrook. As well as Jessica Chastain as the good Celia Foote that everyone thinks of as white trash. These southern women certainly have their cliques. Most were raised by African American maids. Perhaps Emma Stone's Skeeter was ahead of her time. She prefers the single life and hoping to go to New York City. But first it'll take stories from the housemaids to get her on her way.

The stories get juicy, yet there are some impulses that makes one think, why couldn't some of these women think for themselves. There is something about civil right and women's rights that intertwine through this story. Yet, the vast comprehension that nothing is going to change their world.

Hopefully, this film will garner many awards to come this year. I hope. It was lovely, sentimental, and tugs at your heart. It might be hard to get the beau to go with you to this film, but hey, co-workers, friends and book lovers can't hardly wait for the next showing of THE HELP.

STORYLINE: Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times.

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THE HELP isn't without controversy. Rumor has it, the author didn't pay the actual person who gave her this story, originally. Her name so happens to be Abilene. The community of African American feminist historians aren't so hot on how the movie depicted the African-American Housemaids in this film.