Viola Davis is a highly talented actress with several Oscar nominations and a win in 2017 for her performance in *Fences*. It’s unusual for actors to regret roles in films that were particularly successful for them, and Davis is no exception.
Despite receiving an Oscar nomination for her work in the 2011 film *The Help*, Davis has openly expressed regret for being a part of it. In a recent interview with The New York Times, she acknowledged the criticism that the film relies on a “white savior” storyline. *The Help* focuses on the experiences of Black maids facing racism in 1963 Mississippi, but it’s told from the perspective of a young white woman.
Viola Davis felt that Black women’s voices weren’t being heard enough in media (according to Filmstarts). She believes the film, while showing some Black American experiences, doesn’t fully succeed in fostering understanding because of *how* those stories are told.
As a fan, I honestly didn’t feel like I was really hearing the maids’ true stories. I felt like I knew Aibileen and Minny – they reminded me so much of my own grandmother and mother. And since the whole point of the movie was to understand what it was like to work for white families and raise children back in 1963, I was expecting to hear their honest, unfiltered feelings. But I just didn’t get that sense while watching it.
Even though the film has received criticism, Viola Davis has shared that she looks back on her time working on *The Help* with fondness, particularly because of the friendships she made and the people she collaborated with.
In 2020, two years after initial discussions about the film, Viola Davis revisited her involvement with The Help. She told Vanity Fair that she now felt she had compromised her values and let down her community by appearing in it.
White viewers can watch the film and analyze it as a historical lesson, then leave and discuss its meaning. But it doesn’t truly connect with the experiences of the people it portrays. While everyone enjoys *The Help*, I feel like I compromised my integrity and let down my community by participating in a film that didn’t fully reveal the truth.
Bryce Dallas Howard, known for her role in *The Help*, shares Viola Davis’s view. In a Vanity Fair interview, she explained that *The Help* presents a fictional story from a white character’s point of view, created mainly by white filmmakers, and that there’s always room for improvement and more diverse storytelling.
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2025-09-29 14:32