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Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Afghans vent fury over Koran burning, U.S. apologizes | 4:24pm EST Strauss-Kahn held in French prostitution probe 1:19pm EST Europe seals new Greek bailout but doubts remain | 3:54pm EST New American Dream is renting to get rich 15 Feb 2012 Al-Jazeera English, Penn State Abuse Scandal Reporter Win Polk Awards 20 Feb 2012 Discussed 172 REFILE-Al Gore takes aim at ”unsustainable” capitalism 164 Santorum says Obama agenda not ”based on Bible” 147 Romney’s struggles fuel talk of brokered convention Watched Carnival revelers swarm Ipanema Beach Mon, Feb 20 2012 Olympus top executive found dead Mon, Feb 20 2012 Afghans protest over Koran desecrations Mon, Feb 20 2012 "The Help": Bold, black and bidding for Oscar glory Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Designers save a few fashion surprises for Oscars 3:18pm EST Rules, schmules! Oscar hopefuls work around new guidelines 3:18pm EST Italian prison drama wins best film in Berlin Sat, Feb 18 2012 German film eyes the big prize at Berlin festival Fri, Feb 17 2012 Flowers, gifts and a kiss for Streep in Berlin Tue, Feb 14 2012 Analysis & Opinion Denzel Washington’s ‘Safe House’ grabs box office crown Ekk Deewana Tha: Never-ending nonsense Related Topics Entertainment » Fashion » Film » Actress Viola Davis poses with the Image Award she won as best actress in a motion picture for her role in ''The Help'' at the 43rd NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, California February 17, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES | Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:06pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Viola Davis knew she had big shoes to fill when she agreed to play the role of a lowly black maid to a rich white family in 1960s Mississippi in "The Help". They included those of her mother, her late grandmother and thousands of African-American women who were maids themselves, many of whom would rather forget those years. Although Davis is now neck-and-neck with Meryl Streep for the best actress Oscar, she says her mother has yet to see "The Help." "It's painful. You have a whole generation of women who don't want to be reminded of the past," Davis, 46, said. Therein lies the paradox at the heart of "The Help" and its chances for Oscars. It was a surprise summer box-office hit that exposed old, but not forgotten, racial divides in the United States. Its popularity could cause Oscar voters to choose it as the year's best movie, but the ugly history it replays might make them look the other way and cast a ballot for another nominee, especially frontrunner romance, "The Artist." Based on the 2009 best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, "The Help" is the tale of a young white woman in Jackson, Mississippi who in 1963 asks African-American maids to help her write a book about their experiences working for white families in the early stages of the civil rights movement. Among movie fans, "The Help" has shown the greatest popular appeal of the nine films vying for best movie. With a $206 million global box office - most of it from North America - and supported by fans of more than 10 million books sold worldwide, "The Help" was one of the top 15 movies of 2011. Myrlie Evers-Williams, a former chair of the NAACP whose civil rights activist husband Medgar Evers was murdered in 1963 in Mississippi by a white supremacist, called it the "most outstanding and socially relevant" movie of 2011. In Hollywood, it has brought a slew of acting awards for its star, Davis, and supporting actress Octavia Spencer, who plays a sassy maid with an unusual method for vengeance through cooking. It has four Oscar nominations, including best motion picture. Given the film's wide cultural impact and its shock top prize at the Screen Actor's Guild awards last month, "The Help" could walk off with the best picture Academy Award. "If there is a jawdropper on Oscar night, that is where it will come. I think 'The Artist' is way out front but 'The Help' is the sneaky underdog that is beloved and often that is what makes a winner," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com. "It is not a movie with big Hollywood names. (But) it is widely-regarded as a well-crafted movie with an important message," he said. STEREOTYPE OR CULTURAL TOUCHSTONE? But not everyone shares the enthusiasm, particularly parts of the African-American community. Some 70 years after Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Oscar (for her role as a maid in "Gone With The Wind,") critics say Hollywood is feting another film about the subjugation of black women. Ida E. Jones, national director of the Association of Black Women Historians wrote in an open statement that far from being a progressive story of triumph over injustice, the way "The Help" depicts black maids is a "disappointing resurrection of Mammy - a mythical stereotype of black women who were compelled either by slavery or segregation, to serve white families." Nevertheless, the film has had a huge cultural impact in the U.S. since its release last August. Michael Taylor, film producer and chair of film and television production at the University of Southern California, said "The Help" reminded Americans that discrimination is not a thing of the past. "It comes at a time when people in this country had begun to think that we have an African-American president so maybe we don't need to deal with race relations anymore. "But then along comes this movie which reminds us that maybe we need to take another look because we do in fact live in very segregated worlds," Taylor told Reuters. If Davis and Spencer win best actress and supporting actress Oscars, they will join a small group of African-Americans to have won the honor including Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball") the only black female to have won in the lead actress category. Davis was painfully aware of the responsibility on her shoulders when she signed up to play Aibileen Clark, a self-effacing maid who lovingly raises the children of her white employers but is forced to use a bathroom outside their home. "I thought doing the movie was important because the maid hadn't been humanized before. I felt she remained a cardboard cut-out," Davis said. "Now I feel like my mother and my grandmother's lives have been acknowledged. "There were so many followers of the book, so many people who had lived this life, who knew these people, so automatically you had big shoes to fill," she added. O'Neil said Davis has emerged as a clear front-runner for Oscar, despite admiration for Streep and her "sledgehammer" performance as Britain's Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady". "Voting for Davis feels important, as if you were embracing a significant message sociologically and historically," he said. As for Spencer, who plays outspoken maid Minny Jackson, O'Neil said she had an air of Oscar inevitability about her after sweeping the supporting actress awards this season. "It is the one award that the film really deserves because she is the one who strikes out among the downtrodden and gets revenge in a shocking way. Her clever defiance and her enduring spirit is what the message of the movie is really all about," O'Neil said. (Editing by Bob Tourtellotte) Entertainment Fashion Film Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints Entertainment News From the Wrap Michael Fassbender to Star in Ridley Scott's 'The Counselor' 4:22pm EST Michael Fassbender will star in and Ridley Scott will direct "The Counselor," which Cormac McCarthy wrote NBC Gives 'Community' a Return Date 4:05pm EST Imperiled sitcom will be back on the air March 15, so everybody take a deep breath Dan Savage Takes 'It Gets Better' to MTV -- and May Have a Deal for Santorum (Video) 4:25pm EST Dan Savage's sex advice column "Savage Love" started as a lark but turned him into a champion of gay rights. An MTV special on the "It Gets Better Project" airs tonight Sundance Selects Takes North American Rights to Documentary 'Ali Weiwei: Never Sorry' 3:21pm EST Alison Klayman's Sundance documentary about Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei will be released in North America by Sundance Selects We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. 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