Go See: The Help

In between books can be a very good place. I had a knee surgery, physical therapy and wrote two books all in a few months time. I admit I was stressed. I'm decompressing now and taking some much-needed time to fill the well. Today, with my office partially cleaned, I dropped a Dove Bar (thank you Sherri) into my purse and headed for the movies.

I can't even tell you how much I loved this movie. I'm so glad this was my choice.

What it's about:

Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon,  “The Help” stars Emma Stone (“Easy A”) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis (“Doubt”) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s,  who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk.

From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed —even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times.

Deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humor and hope, “The Help” is a timeless and universal story about the ability to create change.

At two hours and seventeen minutes, this film is long as far as today's movies go. I cried at least five times. I loved everything about it: The setting, the clothing, the soundtrack (Mary J Blige) the choice of actors...but most especially the honesty and deep emotional investment the writer, or author in this case, had in telling this story. You've probably read how Kathryn Stockett was rejected sixty times before someone made an offer on her book. I can't imagine why.

This is a film every young person should see. I was alive during the sixties, but growing up in the Midwest, I learned only a blurry concept of racial discrimination. The Help is as eye opening as the mini-series Roots was in the late seventies. Making our country's history real by assigning lives and emotions and faces to facts will help young people understand where we've been and how far we've come.

Speaking of Roots, the beautiful Cicely Tyson plays an old woman in The Help. When did that happen? The entertainment value is high on the awesome scale, as well. Movie-goers will cheer for the underdogs and root for the main characters, in all their diversity. Seeing Sissy Spacek in this role was a little unsettling too, because I sure don't think of her as a doddering old woman, but she was great, as expected.

Two thumbs up from this movie goer. Go see The Help. And take a hankie.