Ole Miss

You is kind, you is smart, you is important– the opening lines that character Aibilene played by actress Viola Davis says as the maid-nanny to the toddler she cares for in the film, The Help (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/). Perhaps not the best usage of the English language but the intent was to give the little girl, Mae Mobley who has been love starved by her mother, a sense of self-worth. And, since Aibilene is silently mourning her son’s untimely death, to compensate for her loss, she forms a strong, loving bond with the child, who she attempts to potty train.

There are several relationships woven throughout the film that are very touching. Main character, Skeeter, who returns to her hometown of Jackson after graduating from the University of Mississippi, is determined to become a writer. Her relationship with her mother, with her childhood friend Hilly, and to the black maids are all well developed. And so is maid Minny's friendship with Aibilene and Minny's relationship to her employer, bombshell, Miss Celia.

The movie, primarily focuses on the struggles African-Americans faced in the south during the 1960s before the civil rights movement. Skeeter exposes the injustices the African-American community was experiencing and Aibilene in turn develops a growing admiration for Skeeter.

While many film adaptations of books (http://amzn.to/odt5OM) aren’t emotionally moving, and don’t feature as many in-depth characters and themes, as their source material, this is one film that stayed true to the novel. Ironically, as I was walking out, I was silently rooting for an Oscar for Viola Davis and thought of how black audiences would perceive the film, would they view it as mockery or see it as a story of truth that evolved from a shameful undercurrent of racism. Two elderly women engaged in conversation with me, originally from the South and said that's the way it was. I left the theater thinking whichever way it unfolds viewers will feel courageous and want to stand up for what’s right.