THE HELP

The Help - This summer has been one of extremes. I keep waiting for blah overcast days on which to go to matinees, but all we've gotten has been gorgeous sunny days or absolute deluges of thunderstorms. I like to be one of the only people in the theatre with a front and center seat, but not when it's a beautiful bright and sunny day outside. I really wanted to see The Help, though, so the other night, I went with my friend Liz and her sister to the Evanston Theater which was packed, and we were late, but we found three seats on the floor with a wide aisle in front of us, so it was almost like we were the only ones there, and the screen filled our vision. The Help lived up to the hype. I read the book long enough ago to have forgotten details, so as the story unfolded, it was still new to me. The Help is about the lives of southern women in the early 1960s. The white women hired black women to cook, clean and take care of their children for them. The black women were paid a pittance for the long hours and love that they brought to their jobs. It's a story with universal appeal and there is no way to describe it that will measure up to simply seeing it and enjoying it.