“The Secret Life Of Bees” has the misfortune of emerging precisely when people expect more from a film that addresses racism.
Based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, it is set in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina.
The film immediately plunges into the nightmare that lives in the heart of 14-year-old Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning).
She bears the burden of an unforgivable act: “I killed my mother when I was four. That’s what I knew about myself. She was all I wanted and I took her away. That’s all that mattered.”
She tries to find out about her mother, only to learn from her abusive father T-Ray (Paul Bettany) that her mother had abandoned her long before the fatal accident.
In search of the truth about her mother
When her black housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) is beaten and imprisoned for offending three racists, Lily rescues her and they both run off to find out the truth about her mother.
“They’re so cultured. I never met coloured women like them before.” — Lily
They are led to the Boatwright house, where three black women live in a privileged position in society, running a honey-making business.
Full of sage anecdotes, beatific patience and maternal kindness, August (Queen Latifah) is the metaphorical Queen Bee that takes Lily under her wing.
She says on Lily’s first day of working in the hives, “The world is really just one big bee-yard, the same rules work in both places… send the bees love, every little thing wants to be loved.”
Star-studded cast — perhaps too many stars
As the overly-empathic, child-like sister May Boatwright, Sophie Okonedo’s talent is slightly underused, but she still manages to put in a solid performance.
Alicia Keys executes her role as defiant June Boatwright with regal beauty and grace. But we never understand why she is so afraid to fall in love with her beau, and the triumphant moment where she finally gives in to him fails to resonate fully.
Bettany’s portrayal of the unhinged T-Ray is fascinating in its paradoxes, often leading us to sympathise with him even when he attacks Lily after tracking her to the Boatwright house.
“Sometimes not feeling is the only way you can survive.” — May
Something sweet amidst racial tension
The intricacies of the beehive are reflected in the complexity of the racial tension in the society, which is still able to produce something sweet: the honey of the budding romance between Lily and Zach (Tristan Wilds), a black teenager who works for the Boatwrights in the beehives.
By the time the film rolls around to this culmination point when they risk his life so they can watch a film together, the audience has almost forgotten that interracial coupling is a big no-no.
And they have to keep reminding us – because at times the race issue almost seems thrown in for good effect: the story of a girl in search of the truth about her mother may have worked just as well without the subplot of racism.
Film doesn’t measure up to novel
The seductive and passionate writing of Kidd’s novel falls flat as the metaphors leap out at you mercilessly and much too soon on the screen.
Yet there is something redeeming and magical in the muted action that unfolds in the slow, hazy days around the honey-house.
We see the web that interweaves the personal and the political of the Civil Rights Movement, the brutality and love of a parent, and the danger and euphoria of first love.
As a feel-good coming-of-age story, it works well enough – but the cohesion with the racism around them and the buzzing life-force of the apiary is stilted at best.
Though it lacks the sensuality of the novel, the same message remains, best encapsulated by June’s snide comment: “It’s ironic how white people hate us so much when so many of them have been raised by black women.”
Sachafortune22's Blog
Review: “The Secret Life of Bees”
January 24, 2009“The Secret Life Of Bees” has the misfortune of emerging precisely when people expect more from a film that addresses racism.
Based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, it is set in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina.
The film immediately plunges into the nightmare that lives in the heart of 14-year-old Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning).
She bears the burden of an unforgivable act: “I killed my mother when I was four. That’s what I knew about myself. She was all I wanted and I took her away. That’s all that mattered.”
She tries to find out about her mother, only to learn from her abusive father T-Ray (Paul Bettany) that her mother had abandoned her long before the fatal accident.
In search of the truth about her mother
When her black housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) is beaten and imprisoned for offending three racists, Lily rescues her and they both run off to find out the truth about her mother.
They are led to the Boatwright house, where three black women live in a privileged position in society, running a honey-making business.
Full of sage anecdotes, beatific patience and maternal kindness, August (Queen Latifah) is the metaphorical Queen Bee that takes Lily under her wing.
She says on Lily’s first day of working in the hives, “The world is really just one big bee-yard, the same rules work in both places… send the bees love, every little thing wants to be loved.”
Star-studded cast — perhaps too many stars
As the overly-empathic, child-like sister May Boatwright, Sophie Okonedo’s talent is slightly underused, but she still manages to put in a solid performance.
Alicia Keys executes her role as defiant June Boatwright with regal beauty and grace. But we never understand why she is so afraid to fall in love with her beau, and the triumphant moment where she finally gives in to him fails to resonate fully.
Bettany’s portrayal of the unhinged T-Ray is fascinating in its paradoxes, often leading us to sympathise with him even when he attacks Lily after tracking her to the Boatwright house.
Something sweet amidst racial tension
The intricacies of the beehive are reflected in the complexity of the racial tension in the society, which is still able to produce something sweet: the honey of the budding romance between Lily and Zach (Tristan Wilds), a black teenager who works for the Boatwrights in the beehives.
By the time the film rolls around to this culmination point when they risk his life so they can watch a film together, the audience has almost forgotten that interracial coupling is a big no-no.
And they have to keep reminding us – because at times the race issue almost seems thrown in for good effect: the story of a girl in search of the truth about her mother may have worked just as well without the subplot of racism.
Film doesn’t measure up to novel
The seductive and passionate writing of Kidd’s novel falls flat as the metaphors leap out at you mercilessly and much too soon on the screen.
Yet there is something redeeming and magical in the muted action that unfolds in the slow, hazy days around the honey-house.
We see the web that interweaves the personal and the political of the Civil Rights Movement, the brutality and love of a parent, and the danger and euphoria of first love.
As a feel-good coming-of-age story, it works well enough – but the cohesion with the racism around them and the buzzing life-force of the apiary is stilted at best.
Though it lacks the sensuality of the novel, the same message remains, best encapsulated by June’s snide comment: “It’s ironic how white people hate us so much when so many of them have been raised by black women.”
Posted in Art & Culture, Commentary, Entertainment | Tagged Alicia Keys, bee-making business, Boatwright sisters, Civil Rights Movement film, Dakota Fanning, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Jennifer Hudson, Lily Owens, Paul Bettany, Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, Tristan Wilds | Leave a Comment »