Check Out the Trailer

Many of the negative reviews of this film, based on Sue Monk Kidd’s bestselling novel, are that its too sweet and that its another one of those films where saintly African-Americans save white people. It’s not really a realistic portrayal of the South in the 1960s, but that’s not its intention. It’s a parable on guilt.

Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning, WAR OF THE WORLDS) is 14-year-old living in a rundown house with her harsh peach farmer father T. Ray (Paul Bettany, A BEAUTIFUL MIND). She’s full of guilt for attributing to her mother’s death when she was four. One day on the way to town, her and her black housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson, DREAMGIRLS) meet up with a trio of white men dead set on stopping Rosaleen from registering to vote. Rosaleen ends up in the hospital and after T. Ray reveals a painful secret about her mother, Lily decides to break Rosaleen out of the hospital and head to the city on the back of a picture her mother had.

There, Lily sees the same picture of a black Madonna on a jar of honey. August Boatwright (Queen Latifah, CHICAGO) is the woman whom makes the honey. Because a white girl and a colored woman could never get a room together, she decides to take them in. She has a secret reason as well. August lives with her two sisters June (Alicia Keys, SMOKIN’ ACES), a strong-willed cellist and activist, and May (Sophie Okonedo, HOTEL RWANDA), a sensitive woman who holds all the worlds troubles on her shoulders. While Rosaleen helps in the kitchen, August trains Lily in harvesting honey. Her other assistant is Zach Taylor (Tristan Wilds, HALF NELSON), a young black teen who dreams of becoming a lawyer.

Lily feels guilty for her mother, what happened to Rosaleen and other tragic events that occur. When we discover that Lily ending up with the Boatwrights isn’t totally by luck, she starts to see the larger implications of the secret inner life of the characters. The Boatwrights’ large pink house is a symbol of healing. August let May pick the color because it calmed her. Rosaleen gets to see three independent black women, which helps her build her esteem. As August tells Lily, one of the greatest things you can do for someone is to help ease their pain.

Latifah is perfect in this matronly role. She radiates warmth and caring, while projecting a striking inner independence and strength. Hudson proves that she isn’t a one-hit wonder, giving Rosaleen a matter-of-fact, world-weary cynicism. Oscar-nominee Okonedo makes May’s emotional issues feel honest, not a product of the plot. She’s more than the comic idiot savant character. Dakota is a child actress who is growing up to be a fine adult actress. The comparisons to Jodie Foster are not an exaggeration. She handles the emotional material with real feeling and power.

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES can work on you emotionally if you let it. Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of the underrated LOVE & BASKETBALL, is working with archetypes, and because she does so she walks a thin line between cliché and iconic. With dramatic material like this, knee-jerk cynicism is any easy reaction. But look closer to see what the story is trying to do. The 1960s were a painful time for race relations. The women in the film represent different good ideals of the era. The Boatwright house is Dr. King’s dream. August is like the black Madonna on her honey jars. Everyone has a past and secrets and needs some healing. Even a country.