#8: The Help

The Help is the quite possibly best film ever to have a black woman say, in total earnestness: “I love me some fried chicken.”

Some quarters would have you believe that The Help is mawkish and overly sentimental. They claim that it pedals an archaic view of race relations. That it’s nothing more than a white-washed revisionist history of the Civil Rights Movement. That every line is variation of “Oh Lordy, thank yah Little Miss White Girl for helpin’ us poor helpless black folk.” Those people couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Help is set in Jackson, Mississipi; in what historians call the Mad Men era. It recreates a place where slavery never really went away. The lovely Emma Stone, of Easy A fame, is perfectly cast as a young journalist trying to challenge the status quo. She meets resistance from the venomous Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays a santimonious bigot you love to hate. But both are outshone by Viola Davis, who incidentally was swindled out an Oscar for Doubt. Here, she is utterly credible as a downtrodden but loving childminder. And Octavia Spencer gives the funniest line of the year in the side-splitting cake scene.

The Help hits all the right notes. It’s an uplifting, inspiring story that never patronises its audience and never shies away from its sensitive subject matter. You’re guaranteed to laugh in its lighter moments. And, like me, you might even tear up towards the end. It was an unexpected commercial smash, and for good reason. I’d recommend it to anyone.

All right, I’ll try to be more concise tomorrow for #7, winner of the coveted “Jaysus, I had to Cover my Eyes for that bit and I’m Not even Squeamish, like” award.