【电影简介】

《帮助》又名《相助》，改编自Kathryn Stockett的同名小说，讲述20世纪60年代美国密西西比发生的社会现象。一位大学女孩Skeeter非常看不惯美国社会对黑人女佣的不公平对待，想通过写书来帮助这些女佣脱离困境。

故事发生在1962年的美国南方密西西比州，这里的社会依旧深受“黑人奴隶制”阴影的笼罩。黑佣在许多家庭里的依旧存在且遭遇着不平等的待遇。22岁的白人女孩史基特-费兰（艾玛-斯通饰）就是生长在这片土地上的普通女孩儿。如今，她已经完成大学的学业返回家乡。接受了良好教育与思想启蒙的她一直梦想着成为一名出色的作家。但在思想依旧保守家乡的母亲眼里，一桩好婚事才是女人最靠谱的归宿。史基特从小由黑人女佣带大，黑佣也因此是她倾诉心事的好朋友，但这次返乡，却发现女佣不告而别，没有人知道去向。

机灵能干、内敛沉着，曾带大17个白人小孩的黑佣爱比琳-克拉克（维奥拉-戴维斯饰），在史基特的朋友家当帮佣，照顾她两岁的女儿。另一名黑佣米妮（奥克塔维亚-斯宾瑟饰），是爱比琳最要好的朋友，有着一手好厨艺，但他泼辣的个性使她常常丢掉工作。个性善良的史基特一直对待黑佣如家人，但她发现为白人一手带大小孩儿的黑佣，不论在生活或态度上，时常得到不平等的待遇。甚至连和白人共用厕所的权利都被剥夺。

对此深感不平的斯基特，决意着手一个大胆的写作计划：采访在白人家庭工作的黑佣们的甘苦遭遇，并写成一本书。以一种平静而同样充满力量的行动去帮助他们发起一场民权运动……

【音频文本】

There is nothing particularly exciting about Tate Taylor's movie 'The Help." Although it involves the topic of racism, the conflicts are downplayed, for reasons we'll talk about later. Somehow the movie feels like a peaceful river that has flowed quietly through an undisturbed meadow for centuries. But in reality it is a lengthy 137 minutes—precisely why you'd better see it when you are in the right mood.

For those women captured in the original novel of the same name by Kathryn Stockett, life wasn't peaceful at all. Back in the 1960s in Mississippi, black women served as maids for white families. They cooked, cleaned and looked after white babies. In return, they were paid next to nothing and remained "separate but equal." If they used their bosses' bathroom, they got fired. If they asked for civil rights, they risked their lives.

Many viewers may deem "The Help" a movie about racial discrimination, but I'm convinced there is more. Certainly, the story goes to considerable length to depict the unfair treatment the black women were subject to, but it only serves to prove how little education plus an empty mind can be a dangerous thing. Most of the white women in the movie, represented by Bryce Dallas Howard's character Hilly Holbrook, are prejudiced against the black maids as well as girls with working-class origins. They seem to say, "Excuse me, if you are not white middle class, you don't belong to our club."

There are exceptions, people free from prejudice. The character Skeeter, played by Emma Stone, grew up under the care of a black maid and was determined to be an independent working woman. As a "homemaker hints" columnist for the local newspaper, she constantly needs help from maids Aibileen and Minny. In the process,she learns more about the injustices they have been made to suffer and decides to help them in return by writing about their stories. What she does is illegal at the time, but she insists on helping the maids inher own way. And the maids eventually identify with her cause and help her finish a book she is writing.

So that brings us to the keywords of this story: women and help. As women, the maids do not take drastic measures to deal with their misfortune. Instead, they endure and hold on to each other. That explains why hardly any serious conflict takes place in the movie. Even historical events such as an assassination are quietly placed on the back burner as Skeeter's book slowly takes shape. There have been numerous movies on racial issues, but "The Help" certainly takes a very different approach.

Viola Davis's character, the maid Aibileen, tends to be passive about all the injustices she has suffered during her life, but her unrelenting kindness moves the audience to tears. On the other hand, Octavia Spencer as the fighter maid Minny attracts plenty of laughter and admiration. Compared to them, the character Skeeter appears much weaker, while the prejudiced ones simply fade into stereotypes.

Perhaps when you are indeed in the right mood, 'The Help" will be a good way to pass an lazy afternoon, and maybe you'll learn something about the tender power of women. On a scale from one to ten, I give "The Help" a seven.

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