The movie is set in the early 1960s in Mississippi. A young white woman, Skeeter, returns home after graduating from the Mississippi university to find most of her friends are married (happily or otherwise) and her maid Constantine has left. The movie is set at a time when racism was rampant and the black maids were treated abominably. Skeeter is embarrassed to see her friends treat their maids with disrespect and scant regard. Most of these maids had started work years ago as a nanny and inspite of the role they played in bringing the kids up, the kids grow up and treat their nanny (now maid) very badly. Skeeter decides to write a book from the maid's point of view but none of the maids are willing or interested and are in fact scared about the consequences of sharing their thoughts about their employer with another white woman. This changes and Skeeter compiles the opinions of two maids, Aibileen and Minny. Skeeter mails the copy to an editor who tells her to get a few more stories, a dozen or so, and then she could think of publishing it. As the racial tension increases, more maids are willing to share their stories. As Skeeter compiles the stories, she finally asks her mother about Constanine and is shocked to hear the truth and decides to include it in her book.
Minny (Octavia Spencer) won the oscar for the best supporting actress. Aibileen (Viola Davis) deserved the best actress award but it went to Meryl Streep for her performance in the Iron Lady.
Image Courtesy: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679960/oscars-2012-octavia-spencer-best-supporting-actress-win.jhtml
Catch it and let me know what you think :)
