"C+" Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

"The Secret Life of Bees" is an earnest little film that ultimately drowns in its own good intentions. To put in another way, it would have made a sensational movie on TV's Lifetime Channel.

For those of you who have read the book, and I haven't, "Bees" tells the story of a 14-year old girl, growing up in the South in the 1960's, who runs away from her abusive widowed father. Accompanied by her similarly abused black caregiver, they eventually find sanctuary with a group of three black sisters who sell honey in a rural part of South Carolina.

While this film means to explore the racial bigotry existing in the white trash areas (for lack of a better phrase) of the rural South, "Bees" never gains any meaningful traction because of the one-dimensional stereotypes that define most of its characters. With the minor exception of a kindly lawyer, all of the other whites are portrayed as monstrous, violent bigots.

On the other hand, director Gina Prince-Bythewood similarly demeans the African American characters in this film by portraying them as so intolerably joyful and wholesome that you can never really connect with them as real people. Queen Latifah plays August Boatwright, the patriarch of the family, who takes our fugitives into her home. She is nice beyond belief, and that reflects the ongoing problem with this amiable movie.

The wonderful Sophie Okonedo plays the emotionally damaged sister May, a woman who has never recovered from the tragic death of her twin sister. Alicia Keys is the third sister, June, the good-looking sister with the tight NAACP T-shirt and jeans, and one can safely say that she should stick to her singing.

What saves this movie from descending into maudlin irrelevance is the performance of Jennifer Hudson and Dakota Fanning. While her character is left unfortunately under-developed, Ms. Hudson makes the most of her limited screen time as the caregiver Rosaleen Daise, a woman who continually suffers physical abuse from the local white racists as she simply tries to vote after hearing about the historic passage of the Voter Rights Act in 1964. Her character has a simple ferocity that is undeniably compelling, but we simply don't see enough of her.

On the other hand, Ms. Fanning is sensational as the young girl running away from her abusive father while trying to unlock secrets about her deceased mother. Racked with pressing guilt over her mother's death, there are moments in this film where she is extraordinary as she tries to cope with a maternal void that can never be filled.

While this movie is more superficial fluff than substance, there is a powerfully moving scene where Ms. Fanning confronts Queen Latifah over her role in her mother's death. As she drops to the floor in agonizing pain, it is impossible not to be moved to tears for this tormented little girl. If only the rest of the movie could come close to that spectacular moment.

While "Bees" does give the audience a limited view of the racism so prevalent in much of the South, particularly in and around the 1960's, the film lacks the courage to explore its true impact on the extended black population of that region. That is a pity, and I can't help but wonder how many African Americans, particularly those over 40, truly felt about this film.

For example, while there is a scene where a young African American boy is telling Ms. Fanning that he wants to be a lawyer and grow up to be like the legendary Thurgood Marshall, I could not help but wonder how he feels as an adult to witness Mr. Marshall replaced on the Supreme Court by such an embarrassing lightweight like Judge Clarence Thomas. That judicial appointment is not only a slap in the face to many African Americans concerning the progress they have made as they continue to fight the pernicious legacy of slavery, but it also reveals just how far society has yet to travel before the ugly beast of racial bigotry is finally laid to rest.