The Secret Life of Bees DVD Blurb by Shale August 2, 2009 I missed seeing this in theater last October, instead seeing five other movies that month. I think I was put off by the fact that a white girl was living with a black family in the Deep South in the 1960s. I knew how the Deep South was in the racist, segregated sixties and have seen too many portrayals in later years that forget how absolute our apartheid was in America. The video was on sale this week and I got it. Loved the story of interracial friendships that did develop and survived even in those times of racial hatred. Equally, it is a story of female empowerment and sisterhood, both within the black Boatwright family and their adopted white sister. Sisters - August, May, Rosaleen (July), June & Lily The story centers around Lily (Dakota Fanning) who lives with her widowed father, T.Ray (Paul Bettany) who shows no love for her and is typically the severe Southern Redneck. Lily finally runs away at 14, after rescuing her hired nanny Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) who was beaten by a bunch of redneck men for being an uppity ******. (Shades of Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple). Lily is looking for information about her mother, whom she accidentally shot as an infant and when she sees a label on a Black Madonna honey jar like the one she saw in her mothers personal effects, she goes to the source, the Boatwright farm. There she and Rosaleen are taken in by the Boatwright sisters, all named after Spring and Summer months. August (Queen Latifah) is the oldest and matriarch of the family, followed by the uptight, shrill June (Alicia Keys) and the bit strange youngest sister May (Sophie Okonedo) who is hypersensitive and cries at any kind of disturbance or sadness (which could be plenty in the racist South). The story follows Lily's growing up within this independent sisterhood that follows a religion based on their African heritage. She earns her keep by working the bee hives with August and learns the secret lives of bees. Lily and August Tend the Beehives This takes place in 1964 South Carolina with the signing of the Civil Rights Act by Lyndon Johnson, which caused much hatred and violence in the South (my own hometown of Brookhaven Miss. saw this a decade earlier with the murder of Lamar Smith for registering black voters). Lily gets a teen crush on the only boy around, the sisters' godson Zach (Tristan Wilds), and you just know something bad has to happen over that. Zach and Lily Become Friends OK, only little more than half the reviewers gave this movie good grades and I can see all the points of their criticism. "Too Sweet" and "All Honey and no Sting" were the easy taglines. But there are moments of serious drama and I found it an enjoyable movie. Could be my own experience with the Deep South of my youth, my love of black women and my association with a family of real black sisters. So, maybe it was just the nostalgia of my past that made this such a good movie for me, but I would recommend that you go get the video and watch it.
i loved this movie i hired it the other day, i am trying to get ahold of the book and will buy the dvd when it comes out!
I was so impressed with the acting, particulary the younger ones portraying their friendship and strong relationship.
