The year is 1963. In a suburb of Mississippi, an African American maid, Aibileen Clark, is working for a woman called Elizabeth Leefolt. She also has to take care of Elizabeth’s 2-year-old daughter, Mae Mobly.

Aibileen narrates about how her own kids are left at her home and being looked after by somebody else. She also lost a son.

Aibileen has a friend named Minny Jackson, who works for a middle-aged lady, Mrs. Walters, and her daughter, Hilly Holbrook. Hilly leads the women’s socialite group.

Elizabeth and Hilly also have a friend, Eugenia Phelan, or “Skeeter,” which she often goes by. Skeeter wants to write a book about the maids of her area.

She goes to a publishing house and pitches her idea to editor Elaine Stein. However, Stein rejects her—especially because her “reference” also rejected her.

But Skeeter is passionate about learning how the local maids can be mistreated. She tries to observe what she can.

Hilly does not allow her maid, Minny, to use the bathroom in her house. One day, though, she uses the toilet. Hilly finds out and fires Minny, even leaving her outside in a storm.

Later, Minny finds another housekeeping job for a woman, Celia Rae Foote. But Celia’s husband, Johnny, doesn’t know.

Meanwhile, Aibileen is toilet-training Mae. Elizabeth then calls her downstairs for a task.

Skeeter’s mother is desperate for her to have a boyfriend, even though Skeeter is not that interested. Her mom finds different outfits for her potential date.

Skeeter succeeds in interviewing Minny and Aibileen. It works out okay—but Stein says that she needs to find more maids.

Aibileen continues to care for Mae. She also tells Elizabeth that Mae still needs diapers at night.

Sometime later, Skeeter meets this young man, Stuart. The two go out together. But their date doesn’t go very well.

At some point, Hilly hires a maid, Yule May Davis, who says that her twins got into college and were honor students. However, she can only afford to have one of them go. But she has to find money for the other twin elsewhere.

Skeeter’s mom brings Stuart to their home. Stuart tries to reciprocate with Skeeter. But she won’t accept it. So, Stuart leaves.

Skeeter finds a bunch of maids to interview for her book. She eventually publishes it—only for a bunch of people to dislike it. If that’s not bad enough, some want to sue her for her beliefs.

What will happen next?

The first half of this movie kept my attention. However, the second half became less exciting.

Although the multiple points-of-view were necessary, I found the film quite confusing. There were so many different characters, as well. I couldn’t always keep track of them.

Because the points-of-views switched all the time, the plot was not that easy to pick up. It also was hard to figure out who the main character was.

Personally, I don’t think there really is one. But it seems that both Skeeter and Aibileen had the most perspectives.

The portrayal of life in the 1960s American south looked accurate. From the way the women dressed to how people smoked a lot (along with the new studies of smoking being introduced) to how African Americans were treated, the viewer learns a lot.

Unfortunately, that included some racist moments, such as the use of the N-word and its original source. And this came out in 2011, when racism was no longer acceptable.

Yes, it was historically accurate. But some things in stories cannot be depicted that way without offending people. This movie would have been just as historically accurate without the use of racial slurs. However, the words were hardly ever used.

On the bright side, the character development was strong for some of the characters. A big one would be Aibileen. She had a tragic backstory, likable traits, and goals. Her relationship with Mae was also sweet. She would act like another mom to her.

I also felt bad for Skeeter at times, such as when her mom pushed her to go out with a guy. She was only 23 and just out of college. But at that time, a lot of women were getting married and starting families in their early 20s.

Overall, I thought The Help was just okay. It was long, almost two and a half hours, with lots of POVs and a complex plot.

I give this film 3 out of 5 stars.