You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important...

You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important
by Issa Perez de Tagle

The Help (2011)
D: Tate Taylor
S: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard

It’s the 60s in Mississippi and the goal of every respectable woman is to have a perfect household. But perfection can’t be achieved without the right kind of help, which is the kind that doesn’t use your bathroom.

That is one of the many unspoken rules of etiquette a homemaker expects from her maid, something that we Filipinos should be more than familiar with, given that this household hierarchy still exists in our nation more than fifty years later. And as widespread as the acceptance of these rules might be, the question of justness still remains, a question that Skeeter (Emma Stone) bravely tries to answer differently from her peers.

She teams up with maids Aibeleen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) to write a book divulging all the violations of fundamental human rights happening in the most basic form of society. From this improbable alliance, a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that try to define them, and the realization that sometimes these lines are meant to be crossed, all while giving us all something to snicker at underneath the comfort of our covers.

The Help is certainly well-acted. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays a deliciously evil Hilly Holbrook, proving that one should never trust anybody who wears too many floral prints. Another standout is Octavia Spencer’s portrayal of the fiery Minny, who will have your jaw dropping in shock or pounding your knees in fits of laughter.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Jessica Chastain, who plays Celia Foote, someone easily mistaken as the typical dumb blonde but shows there’s more hiding in that head aside from tons of hairspray. She could have easily been lost in her character’s comic relief but she emerges as one of the more memorable characters in the film.

As for the movie’s top-billed actress, Emma Stone’s Skeeter is somewhat underwhelming, but just like the character she portrays, she merely is a vessel to help tell the stories of others. In which case, she serves her purpose adequately.

Before the end of the film’s two-hour run, it’s more than clear who the real star is. It is none other than Viola Davis, who gives such a god-honest performance as Aibileen Clark. She infuses her character with a quiet yet formidable amount of strength, sincerity, and overwhelming compassion. Aibileen may not be a woman of many words but the few she utters are the ones that mean the most.

There’s no question on the entertainment value of this movie. The costumes, the scenery and the lush use of color lend it a timeless yet whimsical quality. The dialogue is whip-smart and the pacing is well-timed. But perhaps its lighthearted take on serious issues is its own detriment. One might even go so far as to say that it trivializes the very plights it aims to expose.

If you’re looking for something that packs more of a punch, it would probably be best to turn to other films like, say, The Color Purple. But if not, then this is certainly a lovely movie of self-empowerment that will delight the whole family and perhaps impart the lesson that we should think twice before mistreating the help, lest they make us eat exactly what we dish out.