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Secret Life of Bees, TheClaudia PuigA sweetly inspiring movie is a tough thing to pull off. At any moment it can veer into cloyingly sappy territory. The Secret Life of Bees walks that sticky line rather adeptly, never getting too sentimental, though it comes dangerously close and has its predictable aspects. Based on the popular spiritually tinged novel by Sue Monk Kidd, the movie version is less treacly and more straightforward than the book. As directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball), it becomes a tale of personal exploration, the search for love and family. Its setting, North Carolina in the early 1960s, heightens its languorous mood, even as it touches on the racial tensions of the time. Dakota Fanning is maturing into a fine young actress, and she is just right as Lily Owens, a girl being raised by an angry father (Paul Bettany). After her black caregiver, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), is taunted and beaten, Lily flees, taking Rosaleen with her. Obsessed with learning more about her late mother, Lily has pieced together clues that lead her to the home of August Boatwright (Queen Latifah) and her two sisters, May (Sophie Okonedo) and June (Alicia Keys). August keeps bees and has a profitable honey-making operation that entrances Lily. She also forges a friendship with Zach Taylor (Tristan Wilds), August's teenage godson, who has dreams of becoming a lawyer. The film's dialogue, faithful to the book, tries too hard to be prophetic and folksy. It's hard to imagine a 14-year-old thinking or talking the way budding writer Lily does in the narration: "(The bees) showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary. I know it's forward to compare my small life to hers, but I have good reason to believe she wouldn't mind." The ensemble cast is the film's strongest asset. It shouldn't need remarking upon, but since the civil rights movement is key to the story, The Secret Life of Bees is noteworthy for featuring so many African-American women as strong and multidimensional characters. The Secret Life of Bees is hampered by over-earnestness and tugs too intently at the heartstrings. But those who were moved by the book are likely to find this adaptation affecting and emotionally satisfying. |
