"The Secret Life of Bees"

The movie The Secret Life of Bees is a new movie released on October 17, 2008 based on Sue Monk Kidd novel. With Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson develop a very emotional drama movie. The film has many diverse themes as racism, abuse, death, love, help, freedom, mental problems, friendship, and the searching of the truth.

Lily is the main character, a 14 years old young who accidentally killed her mother at her 4 years. Lily had a complicated, unhappy life, without a mother, with a crazy father that abused her, and their Negro employer, Rosaleen seemed to be the only one who cared or loved her. When the civil rights act was signed by the president Johnson, Lily went out to town with Rosaleen to register Rosaleen’s vote, but they were intercepted by three white racist men whom humiliated and beat Rosaleen. T-Ray, Lily’s father took her to home and commented that Rosaleen was going to the hospital and that probably those men would kill her. Then Lily decided to escape her father, who told her that her mother didn’t love her and she didn’t come back to look for her, help Rosaleen to escape and save her life, and discover if her mother truly loved her to fill that empty space she has in her life. So Lily and Rosaleen escaped to South Caroline to Tiburon town, because this place was written on her mother’s picture. When they arrived to Tiburon Lily saw a honey container with the same pictures that her mother possessions and that was how they finish in August house, a place with apparently relation to Deborah, Lily’s mother. After a lot of lies Lily and Rosaleen achieved to be received in August house to remain there working for a time to collect money to visit their imaginary sick aunt. There Rosaleen, but specially Lily stared a new life, meting new special people August, May, June, Neil, Zach whom helped her to learn many new things, to discover many things about herself and what she want of her life, and to have another perspective of the people, details and life.

August taught Lily ‘the secret life of the bees’, and the rules and the clues to do work with bees. In the movie, the work with the bees represents the necessity of love that every human has; that necessity that everybody has of comprehension, patience, respect, and affection, those traits of humanity and community. The bees’ life is an example for us as humans. If somebody treats you with violence, you respond with violence, but if that person treats you with love, you respond at the same manner, it is a basic rule in bees’ life, and it is also in human’s life. Lily tried to send bees love, and at the same time she discovered the love was around.

None character in this movie escape for the pain. Pain for the injustice, the death, the abuse, the rejection, and other. May is the character who represents the pain. She was affected by everybody’s problems. Lily and May had a conversation about feelings and about how May feels everything with a great intensity, and how exist, some people that don’t feel anything. Lily said she want to be like May, that she want to feel, but May recommend that sometimes the only way to survive was do not feel, and she was all right cause in her case, she didn’t could resist the pain.

My favorite parts of the movie are when Lily was with August in the place of bees and she told that she could not imagine something better that someone who could love her, and when June decided to marry with Neil; because these two parts demonstrate the strength of love in humans’ life.

This is a movie with a lot of teachings about life, necessities, unity, strength, sacrifice, compassion, equality, and love.

I enjoy the movie and I believe I learn something from it:
1. Love is important, if you want to receive love, you have to gift love.
2. We all are equally, no matter color, place, name, culture, ideas, we are all humans; racism is the most despicable act over the Earth.
3. To win you have to take a chance.
4. Sometimes you have to sacrifice some things for other, that things are details, and if the other person is happy, the sacrifice has a lot of worth. (I saw in the act of pain the house of Caribbean pink just because May liked that color)
5. Love is think in what the other wants, be equally, and be fair.

It is a good movie to enjoy in family or just to see and reflection about. I recommend it!

Don’t be afraid to say “I love you”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!