Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a drama film from 2011, titled The Help.
Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care. In Mississippi in 1963, Aibileen Clark is
telling her story to a writer. She grew up on a plantation already knowing she'd become a maid
because her mother and grandmother were maids, too. She's looked after seventeen white kids in
her life while her own child was looked after by someone else, and nowadays she's working for the
Leefolt family. The wife, socialite Elizabeth, doesn't pay much attention to her daughter Mae,
so Aibileen does most of the raising for ninety-five cents an hour. This whole
book idea starts when Skeeter Phelan returns home after graduating from college. She tried
to apply for a job at an important publishing house in New York, but she was told she needed
to gain experience first. So now she applies for a position at the local newspaper and is given a job
answering cleaning questions in the housewife column for eight bucks a week. Meanwhile,
Aibileen tells us about her best friend Minny Jackson, who works as a maid for the Holbrooks.
The wife Hilly leads the women's socialite group and is president of the city's Junior League;
recently she's also brought her mother Mrs. Walters to live with her after she became sick.
This meant firing her own maid to make room for Minny because she is the best cook in town and
Hilly loves her pies. When Aibileen lost her son four years ago, Minny helped her go through it.
Today Hilly is the one hosting the bridge club, so Minny and Aibileen get to gossip together in the
kitchen while working. Minny tells Aibileen about Hilly's latest offense: she's started
putting pencil marks on the toilet paper to make sure Minny isn't using their bathroom - this is
why Minny has started to carry paper of her own. Skeeter has also come to this little gathering and
her old friends give her a warm welcome, but the mood becomes awkward when Skeeter mentions she's
got a job - she's always been seen as a bit of a weirdo for not getting married. Things get awkward
again when Skeeter asks Elizabeth permission to talk to Aibileen later so she can help her answer
the cleaning questions. This makes her confess she can't do that with her own maid because she quit,
which is seen as a bit of a scandal. At that moment, the phone rings and Aibileen picks it up:
it's Celia Foote, a housewife that has been ostracized by the socialites for having married
Hilly's ex, Johny. Since Elizabeth refuses to take the call, Celia asks Aibileen if she knows of any
maid looking for a job because she needs one, but Aibileen can't help her. After the women make fun
of Celia for a while, the subject changes to that of bathrooms - Hilly refuses to use Elizabeth's
guest bathroom because the maid also uses it, and she thinks Elizabeth should invest in building
one just for the maid. Hilly is also sure that African-Americans carry different diseases, which
is why she's drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative that consists of making every home
have a separate bathroom for the "colored help". When the meeting reaches its end, Skeeter asks
Aibileen to help her with the letters, and the maid accepts. Skeeter also apologizes for
the bathroom talk Aibileen had to hear before she brings up the subject of her old maid Constantine.
Aibileen was friends with her and hasn't seen her in a while, but she's shocked to hear Skeeter say
she quit because it isn't true. Before Skeeter can ask any further questions, Elizabeth interrupts
her and hands Skeeter Hilly's initiative so she can include it in the League newsletter.
Afterward, Skeeter returns home to have a talk with her mother. Charlotte refuses to answer
any questions about Constantine, and is upset to hear Skeeter got a job because at this rate she'll
never get married. Later during dinner with her family, Skeeter asks about Constantine again. Her
father lies so Skeeter pushes for the truth and discovers Constantine was fired after twenty-nine
years of working there. An argument ensues and when Charlotte refuses to accept Constantine
was the one actually raised her daughter, Skeeter leaves the house while remembering how Constantine
used to comfort her whenever she was upset as a teen. This gives Skeeter an idea: she wants
to write a book with the real stories behind the maid's lives so people can see the other side.
The following day, Skeeter goes to see Aibileen to get her help with the column letters while
a construction worker begins planning the extra bathroom. When she's sure nobody can hear them,
Skeeter also asks Aibileen to share her stories for the book, but Aibileen refuses. Their
conversation is interrupted when Elizabeth arrives arguing with her husband because he isn't happy
about the extra bathroom, and he ends up leaving in a huff. When Mae begins crying and Aibileen
goes to check on her, Elizabeth tells Skeeter she can't talk to Aibileen about the letters anymore.
Later that night, a tornado arrives in town. Minny is scared to go to the bathroom outside,
but Hilly doesn't let her use their own toilet. However, Minny sneaks around and uses her master's
bathroom anyway - unfortunately, Hilly finds out and fires her for it. Some days later, Aibileen's
bathroom is finished so she has to go outside as well, but she gets a moment of sweetness when
Mae calls her "her real mom". Skeeter stops by Aibileen's neighborhood to ask for her help again,
making her lose her bus. Aibileen turns her down again, mentioning her cousin was burned
merely for walking near the voting station, so she won't risk her life over this. Skeeter gives
Aibileen her phone number anyway and after the maid turns down her offer of a car ride,
Skeeter decides to research the Laws Governing the Conduct of Nonwhites and discovers a number
of disgusting rules. For example, publishing ideas related to equality may result in jail,
books can't be exchanged between white and colored schools, and colored barbers can't serve white
females. Later in the evening, Aibileen gets a call from Minny saying she did something awful.
Hilly had told everyone in town that she was a thief, so Minny got her back with a special pie.
She doesn't explain exactly what was so awful about it, but she breaks down in tears because
she won't ever get a job again. Their conversation is suddenly interrupted when Minny's husband comes
home and begins beating her up for losing her job. This leaves Aibileen thinking about the book,
and after hearing her pastor talk about God wanting his people to be courageous,
she calls Skeeter to come over and tell her some stories. Skeeter parks far away so the neighbors
don't see her car and tells Aibileen that she doesn't care if the stories aren't nice towards
white people, she wants to publish the truth, taking us back to the beginning of the story.
Meanwhile, Hilly's new maid asks for a loan of seventy-five dollars to send her kids to college,
even accepting to work for free for a few days to pay it back. Hilly refuses, saying she's doing her
a favor because God doesn't give charity to those who are well. A couple of days later,
Minny's husband makes their daughter quit school to become a maid to help with the bills.
Minny herself spends many days without a job, but Aibileen gets an idea: there's one person
that couldn't have heard Hilly's lies, and that's Celia. Minny goes to see her and is welcome with
open arms because Celia is an awful housewife and is desperate for help, especially now that
she's pregnant. She'll give Minny the job if she accepts to keep her presence a secret from Johny,
and Minny agrees. During the next Junior League meeting, Hilly announces her health initiative
has been sent to the governor and reminds Skeeter she wants to see it in the newsletter.
Skeeter has been trying to avoid publishing it and lies, saying she'll do it soon. The
interviews with Aibileen continue, now touching on the subject of Elizabeth being an awful mother.
Minny finds them in the middle of it and scolds them for this terrible idea, but it only takes her
a few seconds to change her mind. Soon she's sharing all kinds of stories with Skeeter,
and promises she'll try to convince other maids to help too. The following Saturday,
Hilly introduces Skeeter to Stuart and they go on a double date. Unfortunately,
Stuart behaves like a twat, so Skeeter gets angry and leaves the restaurant before even ordering.
Meanwhile, Minny becomes friends with Celia, who treats her with respect and even asks
for her company while having lunch. Sometime later, Skeeter gets some news from the editor:
her stories are good, but they need at least a dozen maids to talk if she wants to be published.
Aibileen and Minny have already asked everyone they know but they are too scared to join them,
so Minny has an idea: since they're already making up names anyway, they could use some of
her stories and say they're from other maids. Skeeter doesn't think she can do that because
it wouldn't be real, so to convince her not to give up, Aibileen finally talks about her son.
While carrying heavy wood, he fell to the ground and was hit by a truck. The foreman threw the body
on the back of his truck, took him to the colored hospital, dropped the body there, and just honked
the horn before leaving. The hospital could do nothing, so Aibileen brought him home to die
on the couch at the age of twenty-four. The book is Aibileen's way to find closure. The next day,
Stuart shows up to apologize to Skeeter for his behavior. He had still been upset because of a
recent break-up and Hilly had forced him to go on that date, which is why he was drunk that night.
Skeeter says exactly what she thinks and he isn't used to that, but he likes it.
Since he's showing respect, Skeeter agrees to go on a date with him, which also goes well.
Stuart thinks Skeeter is smart and even admits having read her newspaper columns, and the two
of them start seeing each other for real. When Skeeter finally begins working on the newsletter,
she decides to have some fun and changes some of the words in her article. Once it gets published,
Hilly's "coat drive" appears as a "toilet drive", so she wakes up to find her garden filled with old
toilets. Famous activist Medgar Wiley Evers' fight for equality is a big subject on tv,
but Charlotte doesn't allow anyone in her house to watch his speech. Later that night, Aibileen
and other black people are asked to leave the bus because there's a commotion on the streets:
Evers has been murdered in front of his own children. Aibileen hides at Minny's for the night
and while they're now more scared about their book, they agree to be more careful and continue
to work on it. The next day, Minny finds Celia bleeding in the bathroom because she's
had a miscarriage. Minny takes her to her bed and takes care of her while Celia shares her worries:
Johny married her because she was pregnant, and she lost that baby a month later.
Since then, she lost three more babies counting this one, but she hasn't told Johny about them.
Celia is afraid her husband will leave her, but Minny says he'll get over it.
Later, Celia buries the baby in the garden under a plant like she did with the others.
In the meantime, Hilly's maid is arrested in front of the other maids. She had found
a ring while cleaning under the couch and when she tried to sell it at a pawn shop, the clerk
got suspicious and called the police. When Skeeter visits Aibileen, she is surprised to find dozens
of maids that are finally willing to share their stories because that morning's arrest had been
the last straw. There are all kinds of stories about how badly they're treated, and the saddest
part is hearing them mention that the kids they raised grew up to be as mean as their parents.
The next day, the socialites have a new bridge club party and Celia tries to join them,
even bringing a pie with her. But all the women hide and ignore her, so Celia leaves in tears.
When she returns home, Minny scolds her for trying to befriend such horrible people and explains they
hate Celia because she married Johny. Celia misunderstands and thinks they believe Johny
cheated on Hilly when actually their relationship started after the thing with Hilly was over,
so she decides she'll clarify matters during the benefit event. Minny doesn't think she should go,
but Celia distracts her from the subject by taking care of Minny's wound because she knows she didn't
fall - her husband put them there. Celia tells Minny she should hit her husband with
a skillet and leave him, but Minny has her children to think about. A few days later,
Kennedy is assassinated. Aibileen is getting scared about being found again,
so Minny decides to share the awful thing she did to have it as insurance.
It turns out the special pie she gave Hilly had been made with her own excrement, and Mrs. Walters
saw her daughter had two pieces of it, so she laughed pretty hard about it. This caused Hilly
to send her mother to a nursing home. Aibileen and Skeeter don't think including the story is a good
idea because it'll give away Minny's identity, but Minny disagrees: Hilly would never want anyone to
know she ate excrement, so this story is the perfect protection against being recognized.
The night of the charity event, Johny and Celia show up, making the socialites uncomfortable.
While giving away the bidding prizes, Minny's chocolate pie goes to Hilly, who didn't write
her name down. A drunk Celia approaches Hilly and tries to explain that Johny didn't cheat on her,
accidentally tearing off the sleeve of her dress in the process. Since she's starting
to cause a scene, Johny takes his wife away, but Celia ends up throwing up on the floor.
After the event is over, Mrs. Walters takes the pie with her and confesses she was the one that
bade for it using Hilly's name just to annoy her daughter for having sent her to the nursing home.
The next day, Celia arrives at the conclusion she isn't made for this kind of fancy life and
wants to leave Johny. However, Minny convinces her to stay, pointing out that if she leaves,
then Hilly's manipulation will win. Meanwhile, Skeeter is almost done with the book,
she just needs one last story, Constantine's, so she forces her mother to confess the truth.
Some months ago, Charlotte was hosting a Daughters of America luncheon after being
appointed state regent. Their meal was interrupted by the arrival of Constantine's daughter Rachel,
who they didn't expect until the following week. Usually Rachel enters the house normally, but
today Charlotte makes her go wait in the kitchen. Charlotte refuses to enter through the service
door and makes her way inside anyway, saying she wants to see her mother, so Charlotte gives up
under the pressure of the other socialites that remind her this isn't appropriate behavior and
kicks them both out. The next day, Charlotte went to Constantine's house to take her back,
but she had already left with Rachel. Charlotte sent her son to Chicago where Rachel lives to
see if they could talk, but it was too late: Constantine had already died. Charlotte tries
to apologize for what she did, but Skeeter leaves in tears. After visiting Constantine's abandoned
house to write her last story, Skeeter sends the book to the editor, who pays her a pretty bad
advance but Skeeter still sends it to the maids. The book is published anonymously and becomes
a success - Mrs. Walters even reads it at the nursing home. When she recognizes the pie story,
she finds it amusing and calls Hilly to tell her to read it. Sadly, Skeeter doesn't get to enjoy
her success for long because Stuart breaks up with her when she confesses she wrote the book,
calling her selfish. When Hilly finally reads the book too, she freaks out and tries to kill
the rumors her friends are spreading about the stories possibly coming from their own town.
However, she finally loses it when she receives a check for her charity from Celia,
made out to "Two Slice Hilly". Furious, Hilly goes to see Skeeter, who just received a letter saying
she's got the job at the publishing company. Hilly threatens Skeeter with legal action, but
Skeeter reminds her that to do so she would have to admit in public that she ate the special pie.
At that moment, Charlotte comes out in defense of her daughter and kicks Hilly out.
Afterward, Charlotte tells Skeeter she's proud of her, congratulates her on her new job,
and thanks her for bringing back courage to the family. In the meantime, Minny gets scared when
Johny suddenly approaches her, but he isn't there to hurt her. Celia has finally told him about the
babies, so Johny has come to thank Minny for being there for his wife - he's always known
Celia hired help, and since Minny arrived, Celia has been feeling so much better. Then, Johny takes
Minny back to the house, where Celia is waiting for them with a meal she prepared on her own.
Johny offers Minny a permanent position in his household, and of course Minny accepts.
This gives Minny the strength she needs to finally take her children and leave her violent husband.
The next time Aibileen and Minny go to church, they're received with a standing ovation. As
thanks for how brave they were, all the community has signed the book as a gift to make up for the
lack of Aibileen's name on the cover. After mass is over, they take the book to Skeeter so she can
see what she's achieved, and Skeeter confesses she doesn't think she should take the job offer in New
York because she can't leave Aibileen and Minny alone after the mess she made. However, the maids
tell her there is nothing she can do here, so they convince her to leave and get a better life. The
following day, Aibileen returns from the grocery store to find Hilly telling Elizabeth that she
stole some of Hilly's silver cluttery. Obviously, it isn't true, but Elizabeth fires her anyway.
When Hilly threatens her with jail if she tries to do something, Aibileen calls her a godless woman,
making Hilly leave in tears. Mae tries to stop Aibileen from leaving, but this doesn't change
Elizabeth's mind and Aibileen has to ignore the little girl's crying on her way out. Mae is the
last kid Aibileen takes care of, but she doesn't regret what she's achieved for her community.