reviewed by Charity Bishop
    

There are very few female-driven plots in the cinematic world, but this adaptation of the best-selling novel by Susan Monk Kidd is the rare exception. I love female-drama because it allows actresses to showcase their unique talents and stretch their abilities. The Secret Life of Bees is primarily about women, but also about the important men in their lives.

It is summer in the 1960's and blacks have just been given the right to vote, prompting them to register in mass numbers throughout the South. Racism is at an all time high in the small community where Lily (Fanning) lives with her abusive father and her housekeeper and friend Rosaleen (Hudson). Walking into town on Lily's birthday, Rosaleen is prevented from registering to vote through the intolerance of the locals and winds up hospitalized, badly beaten and accused of assault. Rather than allow her friend to be imprisoned, Lily packs up her meager belongings and helps her escape from the hospital. Soon, they come to a much quieter Southern town and request shelter from a local resident, Miss August (Latifah). A bee keeper known far and wide for her wonderful honey, August takes them in with few questions and allows them to work for their room and board, much to the disapproval of her younger sister June (Keys).

It doesn't take long for Lily to grow to love her new life and the family that has welcomed her into its ranks despite the difference in her skin color. Learning to tend bees with Miss August, she soon discovers the nuances and beauty of her companions, from the overly emotional May (Okonedo) to the sweetness of Zach (Wilds), but her father (Bettany) has become determined to find her. What results is a movie that abounds with originality and touching moments. It is more than a young woman's journey toward fulfillment, although that is the basic premise. Lily is haunted by her actions as a child, with resulted in her mother's death, but is also struggling to believe herself worthy of love, since all she receives from her father is cruelty. In one particularly heart-wrenching scene, she confronts him with her sadness in that she could not understand the cause of his cruelty, or see his insurmountable pain. Forgiveness is extended on her part and while it impacts him, he does not make a miraculous (and unlikely) transformation into a good father. It is this that reveals the beauty in the writing, because while all undergo change in their lives, none of them act out of character. It's not just about Lily, either, but all of them coming to grips with their own failings and fears.

Miss August is a wonderful woman and mentor, and may be one of my favorite characters from recent literature -- she is motherly and kind, but not foolish and certainly not perfect. Each of the women, however, have something to leave behind with the audience and as such the leading ladies are magnificent, particularly Fanning in the most mature, emotionally gut-wrenching performance I have ever seen out of her. The film's view of white men is decidedly prejudiced, as all of them are portrayed as bigoted racists. There is also a disconcerting twist on Catholicism that brings into play African spirituality. The women gather around, pray to, weep in front of, and "draw strength" from a statue of a black Mary, who floated into their lives one day on the current. It is not as peculiar as in the book (in which various pagan rituals are played out) but is somewhat uncomfortable due to its emphasis on Her rather than God.

There is some content and heavy thematic elements. May unintentionally serves a treat that resembles a phallic symbol. There is quite a lot of language, including a half dozen uses of GD and four abuses of Jesus' name. Lily's father physically abuses her by throwing her around rooms, forcing her to kneel on dry grits for hours at a time, pulling her hair, and shaking her. Rosaleen is pummeled for being "snippy" to several white men; they throw her to the ground, punch, and kick her, and split open her forehead on the pavement. It's implied that the police badly beat a black boy for sitting next to a white girl at a movie theater. There is also an emotionally devastating suicide, unseen apart from the gut-wrenching aftermath. It is not a happy movie, but doesn't leave the audience feeling depressed. There is something empowering and even inspiring about it as we watch Lily's life improve through the love of her companions.