The Help, about a few black maids convinced into telling all about their white employers, eases its way into a larger story that some find controversial and others -- mostly the ones who read the thick bestselling novel -- believe is powerful.

An opening scene sets the stage with humor as Editor Blackly (Leslie Jordan) questions Skeeter (Emma Stone) about writing a column for the Jackson, Mississippi, newspaper. Jordan comes across as quite amusing in his bewildered character, so the audience is immediately in stitches. Because Skeeter gets excited about having her first real break as a writer, she says yes before realizing it’s a column about cleaning.

 Like her friends, Skeeter is a typical southern gal who has grown up in a home where the maids do the cleaning. Clearly, she knows nothing about her assigned topic. So she asks her friend Hilly Holbrook’s (Bryce Dallas Howard) maid, Aibileen (Viola Davis), if she can help her out. Thinking what can it hurt, Aibileen agrees.

As the two women begin to spend a little time together, Skeeter realizes her white friend is not very nice, and the black maids who care for the white families are often treated harshly. Searching for a way into a bigger writing position, Skeeter connects with Elaine Stein (Mary Steenburgen), a New York editor intrigued by Skeeter’s plan to write a scandalous true-confessions tale as told by the local maids.

I read The Help and thoroughly enjoyed it. Author Kathryn Sockett takes readers into a past era of 1963 where life was like a grade 6 rafting ride, a thrill a minute for some, a turbulent nightmare for others. The adaptation by Tate Taylor seems mostly faithful to the book, so the characters are well developed. Casting Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer (Minny), Aunjanue Ellis (Yule Mae Davis) and Cicely Tyson (Constantine) as the maids was a potential Oscar-winning decision. Davis and Spencer portray their characters as if they were cloned.

Every day when Aibileen goes to work at Elizabeth Leefolt’s (Ahna O’Reilly) home, she must do household chores as well as take care of baby Mae Mobley (Eleanor & Emma Henry). It’s a job she adores. She teaches the baby girl to repeat things about her values like, “I am kind, I am smart, I am important.” But it breaks Aibileen’s heart when Mae Mobley says, “You my real mama, Aibileen.”

The maids must carry their own issues beneath their burdens involving lack of respect at work. For Aibileen, it’s the recent death of her son, and for Minny, the constant physical abuse by her husband. Juxtaposing these burdens with the dilemmas of the white housewives who literally shriek seeing dust on a table or not having the right pie for a lunch party -- and the theme of this film quickly resonates.

Terrific casting of the housewives also adds to the film’s quality. Dallas Howard makes the perfect Queen Bee as “Hilly,” a woman we love to hate. O’Reilly easily conjures up sympathy for Elizabeth, who must kowtow to Hilly while balancing a baby on her hips and dealing with Mae Mobley. Spacek nails the nattering but not-dead-yet mother of Hilly, and Allison Janney hits every high and low note of Skeeter’s amusing but dying mother. In a film that can make one wince from disgrace, it’s nice to have lighter moments -- and Jessica Chastain provides many with her performance as Celia, who can’t cook and hires Minny to be her maid without letting her husband know it’s the maid who makes those great meals.

There are few men (Chris Lowell, Mike Vogel) in this movie, but it’s a quick jump to imagine them all as Stepford husbands -- each more worried about the name of the brandy in their liquor cabinet than who is really ironing their shirts. 

Beautifully filmed in Mississippi by Stephen Goldblatt (Julie & Julia), the production and set design are brilliant -- easily transporting viewers into Hilly’s backyard pool or Aibileen’s kitchen where the forlorn share their stories.

The film’s music provides an excellent backdrop to the era depicted here. Academy award-nominated (10 times) Thomas Newman’s score is exceptional. And do not leave before the credits, because that’s when Davis sings Mary J. Blige’s “The Living Proof,” a beautiful song written to honor the women in the movie.    

The Help projects so much heart it’s easy to feel both sorrow and enjoyment while watching such an emotional film. One of the men in Aibileen’s church conveys that best when he says, “Courage isn’t about just overcoming fear, but doing what’s right for your fellow man.”

(Released by DreamWorks Studios and rated “PG-13” for thematic material.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.