To be honest, the marketing campaign for this film, based on the popular book, had me worried that it might take a serious subject and treat it with a The Blind Side sugariness. I was pleased to see that, for the most part, writer/director Tate Taylor keeps it from teetering too much into the melodrama arena. The biggest thing it has going for it the performances (a few, at least). Emma Stone successfully sheds her little-cute-girl comedy background and does an impressive job as the independent-minded young girl in 1960s Jackson, MS who decides to write a book from the point of view of the African-American women who pretty much raise the rich white ladies’ babies, along with everything else. But there are three stand-outs that make the movie enjoyable: Jessica Chastain*, as a bubbly ditz of a girl, seemingly oblivious that racism exists. Octavia Spencer, as a spirited maid who can say more with her eyes than most actors can do with an entire film. And the always-fantastic Viola Davis, who dominates this film with her quiet moments of suffering and hope.
Two problems I had with the film. First, it only mostly stays away from melodrama. At times, it tends to fall into that trap. Not a lot, but it feels louder because of the surprising strength of the rest of it. But my biggest problem is a choice made, both in the script, by the director, and by a few actors, including Bryce Dallas Howard. The Rich White Racist Girls we’re supposed to hate are so immensely one-dimensional hate-able bitches. There is not a single redeeming, organic quality in any of them. Now, I’m not ignorant enough to think that there did not (or do not still) exist such horrifying, blind racism in Jackson, Mississippi or anywhere else. These types of ladies, who delight in the power they have over their help, were and are around. And surely their utterly one-dimensional bile makes the moments of moral revenge into easy sweet victories. But any story will benefit from giving all characters, good and bad, enormous depth. There’s no depth to the Rich White Racist Girls we’re supposed to hate. They’re just rich, white, and racist, and it’s clear we hate them. A missed opportunity to add some complexity. Because while those type of people really do exist, the bigger problem had complexities, both unique to that era and that still abound today.
*What a fucking year Chastain had. Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help, and The Debt (review coming soon). And such range. Look at her in Take Shelter and just try to find her character in The Help.
