The Secret Life of Bees (DVD, 2009, Checkpoint; Sensormatic; Widescreen)

Features Actors:Dakota Fanning, Paul Bettany, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okonedo, Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah & Tristan Wilds.
Running Time: 110 Min.
Rating: PG-13


In 1964 South Carolina, 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning, War of the Worlds) lives with her abusive father (Paul Bettany, A Beautiful Mind) and the memory of a tragic accident that took her mother away. When their housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls) is severely beaten on her way to register to vote, Lily rescues her and the pair run away. Guided by a scrap of paper left by her mother, they end up at the bright pink house of the Boatwright sisters—May (Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda), June (Alicia Keys, The Nanny Diaries), and August (Queen Latifah, Last Holiday)—who run a local honey farm. While Rosaleen bonds with the emotionally fragile May, Lily earns their keep by helping August with the bees. She grows fond of fellow worker Zach (Tristan Wilds, The Wire), a boy who dreams of defying racial expectations by someday becoming a lawyer. But when he and Lily leave the safety of the farm to see a movie together, they get a nasty reminder that the world outside is a dangerous place.




The Secret Life of Bees oozes with symbolism as thick as August's honey. Lily and Rosaleen blossom and grow like their namesake flowers—flowers like the ones that attract the bees kept by sisters named for the spring and summer months when bees are most productive. As for those title insects—so resourceful, industrious, dangerous, and fragile—bees come to stand in the story for everything from individual characters to the Civil Rights movement itself. Within the safety of their bright pink hive, Lily, Rosaleen, and the Boatwright women live and work in close community. Outside, however, there is danger from angry parents and racist Southerners who'd rather swat than get stung by change. Maternal imagery pops up everywhere, too, underscoring Lily's search for the truth about her mother—on honey labels, as a carved wooden statue, and in the relationships forged between Lily and her surrogate mothers.
The Secret Life of Bees is an uplifting tale of empowerment and self-determination, but it treads some well-worn ground. Films set against the backdrop of the struggle for civil rights carry an important message, but they also carry dramatic baggage that makes it hard to evaluate each on their own merit. The same is true of coming-of-age stories.

Fall in love all over with the movie version of Sue Monk Kidd's Secret life of Bees book.If you love this book you'll love to watch it come alive!Hope this helps you decide.Thanks for reading! :)

The Secret Life of Bees stars Dakota Fanning as Lily, a 14-year-old growing up in a small Southern town in 1964. She is haunted by memories of shooting her mother when she was a young girl. She lives with her father and her best friend is their housekeeper. She later sets out to find the place where the onlypicture of her mother was taken. The place is the home of three sisters Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys,who make a very successful living producing honey. Lily & the housekeeper move in with the sisters and Lily learns about beekeeping and life.

Lily Owens aka Dakota Fanning is the bee charmer in The Secret Life of Bees. Not really but close. Fanning plays the lead Lily with wide-eyed amazement circa a whole lots of child actors before her- we get it your cute!
Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Sophie Okonedo also star in this slow but powerful movie based on the best-selling book (of the same name) by Sue Monk Kidd.
No spoilers here but Purple Honey and pure passion for life. This movie will make you laugh and make you cry. Sophie Okonedo stands out as the troubled May who has the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Queen Latifah shines and Alicia Keys is wonderful. Jennifer Hudson is great but Dakota Fanning crying in this movie makes you wonder-- since the tears seem so real-- what a great adult actress she may one day become- this movie puts her one step closer.
The next time you see a bee buzzing around a magical flower- wonder about their secret life- there is symbolism in their somewhere!

Haunted by her mother's death, 14-year-old Lily Owens escapes her dreary life on her father's farm and heads to Tiburon, S.C., with friend and caregiver Rosaleen Daise, spawning a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Set amid the hotbed of racial tensions in the 1960s South, this is a touching drama based on Sue Monk Kidd's best-selling novel.

Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys

The Secret Life of Bees is wonderful film about the lives of a little girl, her
friend and the three women go in search of one of these women who can tell her
about Mother. It well written script and beautifully acted by Dakota Fanning,
Queen Latifah , Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Hudson, Alica Keys and marvelous supporting cast. It is a film well worth the watch.