Hilly refuses to use the same bathroom as “the help,” Elizabeth speaks about her maid as if she’s not there, the pay is drastically unfair, and in the background of it all, dissent is breaking out across the country over the civil rights of Black people.
Skeeter pitches a book idea to a publisher in New York, Elaine Stein (Mary Steenburgen), who tells Skeeter that she must have actual stories from maids, or it’s just a disconnected piece written by a white woman.
The Help reveals Skeeter’s struggle to love her dying mother, Charlotte (Allison Janney), who is wildly out of touch and old fashioned, to remain friends with the women from her childhood, and stand by what she believes in while giving voice to Minny, Aibileen, and their fellow housemaids.
And Stone pulls off these scenes brilliantly. While there will continue to be backlash against perhaps not properly telling the stories of Black people in the present or the past, as these are complex, individual stories, I am just glad someone, anyone, is telling them with heart, taste, truth, and compassion.