As a person who'd just finished reading the book on which "The Help" is based and who'd just watched the film, I'd like to say a few things about the differences between the book and the film and how that reflected on the story.
The film represents a much shorter version of the story than the book. The major differences, and the ones that I thought were NOT beneficial for the story, are as follows.
What was also different from the book but what I DID like, was the cause of the conflict between Minny and Hilly, which was sort of unclear in the book: Hilly just started telling everyone else that Minny had stolen silver from her for no apparent reason rather than she wanted Minny to work for her. So I find that the thing with the bathrooms in the film actually works better.
What I also liked was the way the characters were cast, especially the character of Hilly, as well as Minny and Aibeeleen.
And the way love affair with Stuart was shown also worked well - it was much shorter than in the book, however the filmmakers managed to grip the essence of their relationship in a few scenes.
All in all, good effort. But the book is even better - more multi- layered and more powerful.
The film represents a much shorter version of the story than the book. The major differences, and the ones that I thought were NOT beneficial for the story, are as follows.
- Constantine's daughter is black, not white, like in the book, and all her background story is missing. This is not OK, because Skeeter's mum's reaction to her sudden appearance in the house in this case is hardly clear.
- Skeeter's mum tells Hilly off when she comes to her house, something that she didn't do in the book since she didn't even know about the book. The character of Skeeter's Mum, like it's done in the book, would have never understood the her daughter's book and would have never been proud of her daughter the way she is in the film.
- Also in the book Skeeter decides not to write about her mother had done. In the film she does.
- It's not also really clear that Skeeter's mum has cancer and that she's really ill.
- Aibeleen doesn't get a job in the magazine, like she does in the book, which I think is a shame because it represents new beginnings for her in the book. In the film she is basically left with nothing.
- Then there is Minny and Miss Celia. Minny actually saves her life when she calls a doctor when Celia has a miscarriage. In the film Mr. Johnny just says, "She got better after Minny appeared in the house", which in my opinion is sort of strange and doesn't explain at all why he says that she had saved her life and why he is so grateful to her and offers her the job for the rest of her life. It is therefore very unconvincing in the movie, when he does that.
- Incidentally, Celia in the book also never ever learned how to cook.
- Also, the whole ominous atmosphere in Celia's house, the air of mystery is absent from the film, which is a shame, as well as her frequent miscarriages (only one is shown and very briefly, without showing Minny's involvement, which is crucial) as well as Minny's constant fear of Johnny.
- It is also not shown that Minny is actually really scared to lose her job when the book comes out.
- Now, to Aibeeleen's son. In the movie he's "killed". By whom? For what? We don't know. In this case I think it would have been better to leave it the way it was in the book – that his death was an accident. I can see what the film creators were trying to do, but it didn't quite work.
- Also, in the church when they congratulate Aibeleen on what she has done, they don't even lock the door – a small detail that would have shown, how much they are all still scared, which, I think, is important.
- What I find is also quite important to the story and something that was hardly if at all shown in the film is Skeeter's social isolation after her fall-out with Hilly. That's the cost she paid for disagreeing with everyone else in town and for trying to do something about it.
- Also, how Skeeter's mother constantly criticized her is not shown, which would have added comic value to the film but also explained why Skeeter was so attached to Constantine.
- The story with Elisabeth, how she'd never really liked her child Mae Mobley and never treated her well is also omitted from the film. It would have been much more painful to watch Aibeleeen leave the family if we knew what she meant for little Mae Mobley.
What was also different from the book but what I DID like, was the cause of the conflict between Minny and Hilly, which was sort of unclear in the book: Hilly just started telling everyone else that Minny had stolen silver from her for no apparent reason rather than she wanted Minny to work for her. So I find that the thing with the bathrooms in the film actually works better.
What I also liked was the way the characters were cast, especially the character of Hilly, as well as Minny and Aibeeleen.
And the way love affair with Stuart was shown also worked well - it was much shorter than in the book, however the filmmakers managed to grip the essence of their relationship in a few scenes.
All in all, good effort. But the book is even better - more multi- layered and more powerful.