by Haven Tso
I was able to catch up with my movie watching recently during a business trip to the States. After all, what is better than spending my13.5 hrs from Sydney to LA watching movies I missed because of work and other commitments?
Among all the movies that I watched, one particular movie stayed in my head all this time – The Help. I have since seen it again on cable after I came back and still think that it is a bloody good movie.
For those who haven’t seen it, it is the story about a group of Afro-American domestic maids in the 1960 Mississippi. The movie touched on broadly about racism in the region during that period of time, particularly how some white Americans covered up their racist acts by justifying those acts were for the benefit of the black people. On top of that, there were storylines about class differences and the obnoxious attitudes of the trophy wives groups. You might think that racism in Mississippi is not a very new topic but this movie has a very different focus. Although it touches on the difficulties and inequality brought by racism, it stayed focused on how subtly this affected the lives of these maids without overloading you with unnecessary dramas. It is a very touching story with great writing and a great cast.
One thing I really like about this movie is that it does not try to present the maids as victims despite what they went through. This is a group of people who stayed strong and took tight grips of their lives. The movie opened up with the question of “How did you feel when you are bringing up a white baby belonging to someone else while yours is at home being taken care of by other people?” Aibileen, the maid being interviewed, looked at Skeeta, she said nothing and then looked out to the dim light of the world outside. The silence and the performance delivered by Viola Davis set the tone and the scene perfectly for the movie.
The movie is based on a book of the same title. I have since bought it for my Nook Tablet but yet to have a chance to read it. The title of the movie was exactly the same as the book being written and published inside the movie, which resonates the fictional life in the movie to the reality that we are in.
I am a big drama movie person. And I particularly love movies that touch on people’s lives genuinely. By this I don’t mean the microscopic lives of niches that you can’t relate to, but lives of people you kind of know but were never able to take a closer look at. Drama movies don’t necessarily need to be depressing, but they do require the elements of reaching out instead of self-pitying. I personally think that “The Help” successfully achieved that. Also with a stellar cast of actors bringing the roles to life certainly helps. Upon checking the cast list you will see a whole list of Academy Award winners in the cast – Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney, Mary Steenburgen and of course the latest Octavia Spencer. Everyone in the movie was just a joy to watch and if you want to watch a movie for your acting training, “The Help” does not disappoint at every single level. There is no over-acting or hysterical deliverance of lines but just plain characters that came to life from the pages.
I can’t really talk too much about the movie without giving away spoilers, so I will highly recommend everyone to watch it if you haven’t. It certainly is a fresh breeze among the current overloading tide of super hero movies.
Haven Tso is an actor, writer, graphic designer and blogger.
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