Secret Life Of Bees
RACIAL prejudice of a more traditional sort is on display in The Secret Life Of Bees, a touching coming-of-age drama set in South Carolina in the mid-Sixties.
Dakota Fanning plays 14-year-old Lily who flees her abusive, widowed father (an impressively venomous Paul Bettany) with the family’s black caretaker, Rosalee (Jennifer Hudson), after the latter is assaulted by the town bigots.
They find refuge with the Boatwright sisters, a trio of independent black women who run a honey-making business, presided over by matriach August (Queen Latifah).
Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd, it tries a little too hard to make you laugh and cry but the climax is moving and unexpected.
HENRY'S VERDICT 3/5
12A, 110 minutes
