The Secret Life of Bees

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The Secret Life of Bees is a sometimes sad and sweet drama set in South Carolina in the Mid-1960s during the Civil Rights Movement. Dakota Fanning plays Lily Owens, a young blonde teen who, when she was 4 yrs old, accidentally shot and killed her mother while she was struggling with her abusive husband in an attempt to leave him. Later Lily at 14, along with her African-American housekeeper, Rosaleen Daise, leave her home and come across a trio of African-American sisters--June (Alicia Keys), August (Queen Latifah) and May Boatwright (Sophie Okonedo)--who live independently as beekeepers. The women take in Lily and Rosaleen and try to help them, despite their running away from home. Unfortunately trouble soon finds Lily again and the fate of the young girl depends upon her courage and those of her supportive friends. While there is racially-insensitive slang and bias violence, it is used in historical context and not to sensationalize. The film is about a young girl who disregards racial barriers and forms a deep connection with the women who become her new family.

Erik M.

Rosaleen Daise: I know you can't understand. Apologizing to those men would have just been a different way of dying. Except I had to live with it.

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