The Secret Life of Bees parents guide

The Secret Life of Bees Parent Guide

Overall A-

Runaway Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) thinks she has found the sweet life when she and her friend Rosaleen Daise (Jennifer Hudson) take refuge with three sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo) who operate a honey business. But a white girl living with the black family in 1964 South Carolina soon draws attention and the fourteen-year-old finds herself facing the sting of racial prejudice, as well as revisiting the bitterness of her past.

Release date October 17, 2008

Violence C
Sexual Content B+
Profanity C
Substance Use B

Why is The Secret Life of Bees rated PG-13? The MPAA rated The Secret Life of Bees PG-13 or thematic material and some violence.

Run Time: 110 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

Learning the proper etiquette for dealing with thousands of bees while delicately attempting to harvest their honey becomes a metaphor for life in this movie that deals with 1960s civil rights issues, domestic abuse and forgiveness. If it sounds like a heavy watch, it is, but it also comes with ample rewards for the audience’s attention.

Fourteen-year-old Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) struggles with guilt over the loss of her mother, as well as an emotionally and physically abusive relationship with her embittered father (Paul Bettany). The closest thing to love she has experienced in her young life is the kindness of Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), a colored woman hired to do domestic tasks. So when the housekeeper is beaten while attempting to register for the vote, Lily determines to rescue both of them. Setting off on a journey toward freedom, the runaways head for a small South Carolina town where Lily believes her Mom once lived.

With only a picture of a black Madonna and child as a clue, the pair are led to the pink-painted home of three sisters living on a honey farm. August Boatwright (Queen Latifah) fulfills the role of matriarch for her sisters June (Alicia Keys) and psychologically challenged May (Sophie Okonedo). With a heart as big as her smile, she welcomes the weary strangers, even though she obviously isn’t deceived by Lily’s tale of woe explaining their arrival. To pay for their room and board, Rosaleen is assigned to help May in the kitchen while Lily begins learning the secrets of beekeeping to help with the family business. Between the chores, the women come together to offer each other social, emotional and spiritual support—things that will be needed in great supply in the near future.

Like the honey they extract from their hives, these characters try and distill every drop of hope and love they can from the increasingly difficult and sour challenges that come their way. While the much bigger issues of discrimination and civil rights rage all around, the script turns its focus inward and offers intricate interpersonal insights between the characters and radiant examples of acceptance and forgiveness.

The serious topics explored result in content that parents should carefully consider before sharing this movie with their older children and teens. These concerns include a character who commits suicide after succumbing to overwhelming grief, a death from a gunshot (heard but not seen), spouse abuse, depictions of a father using physical force and cruel punishments to control his daughter, and portrayals of whites beating blacks (hitting and punching are shown, and injured characters later sport bruises and bloody abrasions). Thankfully, sexual content is limited to kisses (some passionate, and others exchanged between teens) as well as the mention of an unwed pregnancy and improper moral conduct. There are also some mild and moderate profanities and terms of Deity as expletives.

Solid, award-worthy performances might make this emotionally engaging story a tad too powerful for those who share similar burdens of physical abuse or unnecessary guilt from the past. But while this film doesn’t patronize its audience with a nicely wrapped up happy ending, it definitely promotes positive examples of taking control of your life instead of being a victim and celebrating the amazing feat of simple endurance, leaving the viewer feeling just a little sweeter for the experience.

Starring Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah,. Running time: 110 minutes. Theatrical release October 17, 2008. Updated

The Secret Life of Bees
Rating & Content Info

Why is The Secret Life of Bees rated PG-13? The Secret Life of Bees is rated PG-13 by the MPAA or thematic material and some violence.

Serious themes of domestic violence, physical and emotional abuse (no sexual abuse is implied) as well as racial prejudice are explored. A character commits suicide by drowning after succumbing to overwhelming grief (the body is shown). A man and wife wrestle during a domestic dispute, which escalates when a gun is introduced. After the weapon is dropped during the ensuing struggle, it is picked up by a young child and accidentally fired. Although a death results, only a gunshot is heard. A father harshly punishes his daughter by pushing her around and forcing her to kneel for an extended time on a grit-covered floor causing her knees to bleed. Two black characters are harassed and beaten by whites. Both sustain injuries including bruises, bloody cuts and abrasions. An interracial romantic interest develops between teens (brief kisses are exchanged). Several passionate kisses are shown. A father questions his daughter’s sexual behavior, and an unwed pregnancy is mentioned. A character is shown drinking alcohol.The script includes some mild and moderate profanities, along with the use of terms of Christian Deity as expletives.

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The Secret Life of Bees Parents' Guide

Do you think it is more difficult to forgive others or to forgive ourselves? Why is forgiveness such a necessary step to overcoming emotional pain and suffering?

August tells Lily that the way you treat bees and the way you treat people are really the same. How do you feel about her four simple rules—don’t be afraid, don’t be an idiot, don’t swat and always send out love? In what ways do you think they could help you to avoid getting stung?

May has a difficult time dealing with sorrow. What strategies do her sisters devise to help her cope with her emotional burdens? From where do August and June draw their strength? How do their examples help Lily and Rosaleen to face their challenges?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of The Secret Life of Bees movie is February 3, 2009. Here are some details…

The Secret Life of Bees buzzes onto DVD in wide screen with a whole hive of bonus materials. These include: the theatrical cut of the film, a Director’s Extended Cut, eight deleted scenes, two audio commentaries (one with director/writer Gina Prince-Bythewood, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Joe Pichirallo, and actors Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah, the other with director/writer Gina Prince-Bythewood and editor Terilyn Shropshire) and featurettes (The World Premiere, The Women And Men Of The Secret Life Of Bees, Bringing The Secret Life of Bees To The Big Screen and Inside The Pink House With Sue Monk Kidd). Audio tracks are available in 5.1 Dolby Surround (English), and Stereo (Spanish), with subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

The Secret Life of Bees is also releasing to Blu-ray, with all of the aforementioned extras. The film is presented in wide screen format on a 50GB dual-layer disc authored in BD-J with AVC (MPEG 4) compression with 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio (English) and 5.1 Dolby Digital (French / Spanish).This edition of the film offers an extra featurette, Beekeeping 101.

Related home video titles:

Another young girl yearns to know about the mother she never knew in the movie Because of Winn Dixie. As unlikely as it first appears, the home of two elderly bachelor uncles proves to be a safe harbor for a boy deserted by his mother in Secondhand Lions. The injustices of racial prejudice are also depicted in the classic film To Kill A Mockingbird.