On first blush, The Secret Life of Bees is a film about race. It’s set in the South during the early 1960s and has scenes that explicitly link the setting to the civil rights movement. But it’s not just about race–it’s an honest, heartfelt film about childhood, trust, and, ultimately, love. Dakota Fanning (queen of the child stars) plays Lily, a 14-year-old girl haunted by the death of her mother, and tormented by her emotionally twisted father.
Race, childhood and venemous flying insects
On first blush, The Secret Life of Bees is a film about race. It’s set in the South during the early 1960s and has scenes that explicitly link the setting to the civil rights movement.
But it’s not just about race–it’s an honest, heartfelt film about childhood, trust, and, ultimately, love.
Dakota Fanning (queen of the child stars) plays Lily, a 14-year-old girl haunted by the death of her mother, and tormented by her emotionally twisted father. After he desecrates the only thing Lily loves–the memory of her mother–she decides to take off with the hope of discovering more of her maternal heritage.
Because Lily isn’t brave enough to do this on her own, she helps her black nanny, Rosaleen (played by Jennifer Hudson), escape from the hospital where she was being held after receiving a beating for attempting to vote. On the lam, the auspicious pair makes their way to a bee farm run by three sisters, based on the belief that Lily’s mother had a history there.
As Lily and Rosaleen become enmeshed in the life of the farm, they both learn and grow from the strong collective will of the three black sisters, especially Queen Latifah’s character, August. Through the course of the movie, the characters struggle with issues of living in a time of inequality, but the story mainly concerns Lily coming to terms with her past while finding love in her present.
The Secret Life of Bees never falls into the traps of melodrama or easy emotional platitudes. It’s triumphant in its human qualities, avoiding the stringent morality of a film like Crash and instead just honestly portraying its characters and their struggles.
The actresses here all do admirable work fulfilling their roles. Though given that most were singers first–including Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah–it’s surprising that there isn’t more music in the film.
Fanning plays the lead role to a tee, competently proving her early acting experiences were actually useful in forming her talent, and she will likely move into the future as a remarkable actress.
Visually, director Gina Prince-Bythewood, nicely portrays the warm, golden glaze of the Southern landscape. And that landscape is pretty but unremarkable, which is actually a decent summation of the movie as a whole.
In many ways, The Secret Life of Bees is a very fine film. There are no obvious mistakes. It’s competently made. But, ultimately, it doesn’t say anything new or memorable. It’s just, well, nice.
The Secret Life of Bees*** out of 5Opening this Friday
