Review by Manda J

A few weeks back, I was gifted with a pass to attend the screening of “The Help”. I was über excited as this was my second must see movie for the summer (the first being Transformers). As an avid reader,  I am the type of person who hates to see a movie after I’ve read the book because the movie gets so twisted, so I was a little leery and apprehensive about the movie. But after watching “The Help“, I was proven wrong.  Based on one of the most talked about books in years “The Help” stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny as women in segregated Mississippi during the 1960’s.  They become friends and secretly begin to write accounts of women who serve as help to families in the town.

As an African American, I’ve seen dozens of movies or read plenty of books about segregation and slavery but this movie really brings out another side. The movie let’s you in on conversations from the white women, and heads of the house about black cooks & maids and you realize that these women who sacrifice their own homes and families weren’t even viewed as people.  They’re lives were not taken into consideration but their sole purpose was to serve and raise their employers children. The so-called “help” became so important in the children’s lives that the children turned to the help over their own mothers who birthed them.

Overall, the movie was excellent, and proves that people can change.  Davis, Spencer and Stone do an excellent job of getting you to see each of their sides and empathize with the help without using cheap woe is me tactics. Bottom line: Go see this movie!  It is in theater’s August 10, this Wednesday, don’t miss this one!