MOVIE: THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
A grown up and exceptional Dakota Fanning stars as the ‘unloveable’ Lily Owens- a virtually orphaned and emotionally scarred teenager who flees her abusive father with her nanny, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). They are subsequently taken in by the independent Boatwright sisters (Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo) and are led by Queen Latifah (August) the family’s assumed matriarch. A film adaptation of Sue Monk Kid’s novel set to a backdrop of the racially discriminating South Carolina in 1964, Owens receives the nurturing she always yearned for and learns many important lessons while helping August tend to the family’s honeybees. Ultimately, it is a sweetly poignant and honestly existential film boasting many pearls of wisdom as a young woman comes of age. (Natalie Salvo)
