I watched the movie “The Help” tonight. The movie is pretty innocent in it’s outer line. The story of a good Samaritan, who happens to be a white woman, helps save the black domestic help a platform to speak and thus help the black community gain the confidence back. But on the inset, it pauses some disturbing views.
Skeeter, the journalist, moves to Jackson only to find a job that will help her gain some experience before she could re-apply at the Harper Row publishing in New York. Meanwhile, her sympathy towards the Help plants the idea of a book on black domestic help. Evidently, it is not ‘the cause’ that drives her to edit a book of stories from domestic help, but the hope that she finally may take a shot at her dream job. It is clear from her enthusiasm in attending the calls from New York and asking the publisher to make sure the book gets published. Or from the scenes like, when Minny asks her for an assurance that they wouldn’t get hurt for telling the truth, Skeeter doesn’t utter a word and Minny finds herself an ‘insurance’. When the publisher asks for stories from a dozen people than only two, Skeeter steps back again and makes no effort to take the story forward. And there again, Minny and Aibileen come to help organizing the volunteers to tell the stories.
The best part of it is when the daughter Skeeter confronts her mother about why her childhood nanny was sent away. A sorry mother tells the story of how she ‘had to’ get rid of the poor old lady who had worked for 29 years in the household – raising the kids, cleaning the household and cooking – because the old lady’s daughter came to visit her mother while there were VIPs inside. Skeeter then tells her mother, “you love Rachel, I know you do”, which was classic! The mother sure has ‘loved’ her Help’s daughter enough to insult them in front of a bunch of ladies and shut them out and close the door on their faces, and for what? For Rachel giving her mother a surprise visit. She sure has a lot of love. And she tells the daughter, “courage skips one generation”. And finally, Skeeter seemingly decides to move to New York to escape the men and mess of Mississippi. Very courageous. Hmm.
In essence, The Help is a movie in the white-man-saves-the-world genre. But you’ve got to give it to the wonderful performances of it’s actors if you held on to your seats throughout. Viola Davis is amazing as Aibileen. I wish she wins and Oscar for best actress in a leading role this time. Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson and Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook come to a close second with their supportive roles. It is for these three ladies that you’ve got to clap.
Funny thing is that this fiction is set at the peak of the Civil Rights movement in America. Even then they couldn’t do without a sympathetic white woman saving a whole community of black women. And by doing what? Dictating the stories that would help her secure a dream job and for being a mere speculator throughout all the events that took place.
And to you my fellow reader – if you were pitying the whites and angry about the practice of racism, look into your own yard. Replace the color there with caste here. Then you will get a picture of how messed up a civilization that you were born in.
And here is a funny poster of the movie which says it all.
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