The Secret Life of Bees, the Movie

Like many others, I loved the bestselling book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and headed to the theater with high hopes; I must say that the movie surpassed my expectations. The movie trailer is good, but doesn't do the movie justice, doesn't foretell the power of this must-see drama. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Without giving too much away, here's a synopsis. The movie is set in the south in 1964, when the the Civil Rights Act was passed, and a year before the Voting Rights Act became law. Lily, a girl of 14, is tormented by the fact that she accidentally shot her mother as a toddler. Lily develops a strange, puzzling affinity for bees. Her father is abusive towards her, while the black housekeeper, Rosaleen, is a mother figure to Lily. One day, Lily accompanies Rosaleen into town, because Rosaleen wants to register to vote. (Forty-four years later, we've elected an African American president--finally.) Racist white men confront them and beat Rosaleen viciously. Rosaleen is also arrested, and held in custody at the medical ward of the local jail. Outraged, Lily goes to the jail to free her friend. Lily and Rosaleen decide to "run away" and leave Lily's father's house. They chance upon a store in a small town, which sells jars of honey (with intriguing labels) from the Boatwright sisters. Lily and Rosaleen journey to Tiburon, South Carolina to meet the Boatwrights and end up living with them. Here, Lily begins to unravel the mysteries that enshroud her deceased mother.

This film celebrates love, and its power to transform lives in astonishing ways. Brilliant performances by the female leads--Dakota Fanning (as Lily), Jennifer Hudson (as Rosaleen), Alicia Keys (as June), Queen Latifah (as August), and Sophie Okonedo (as May)--make this movie exceptional, academy-award winning material. These strong, positive women are wonderful in their roles. They don't play empty-headed sex objects but women with strength, courage, independence, and kindness. We need more movie roles like this for women! While the actresses may steal the show, the acting by Paul Bettany (as T. Ray), Nate Parker (as Neil), and Tristan Wilds (as Zach) is also excellent. The Secret Life of Bees is both heartrending and uplifting, as a movie and as a book.

To the Lighthouse

After reading some lighter fiction, I decided to delve into something deeper, a novel by Virginia Woolf. I located the tattered copy from my school days and took a deep breath. Here is another phenomenal book by Virginia Woolf. Published in 1927, To the Lighthouse broke new ground and Virginia Woolf emerged as the chief figure of modernism--and perhaps feminism--in England.

The book begins as Mrs. Ramsay, mother to eight children, speaks to her youngest child, James, age six, about his wish to go to the Lighthouse on the following day:

"Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said Mrs. Ramsay. "But you'll have to be up with the lark", she added. To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the expedition bound to take place, and the wonder to which he looked forward to, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night's darkness and a day's sail, within touch. ~To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

However, Mr. Ramsay, as well as Charles Tansley, soon shatter the boy's hopes by saying that it will rain the next day, and that a trip to the Lighthouse is out of the question, which upsets both James and his devoted mother greatly. The setting for the story begins at the summer house at the Isle of the Skye during the summer, where the Ramsays entertain numerous friends in addition to their large family. Mrs. Ramsay tries to soothe the boy by saying that the weather may be fine, because she has a far greater understanding of her sensitive, gifted child than either her husband or his friend. Keenly aware of the beauty and brevity of childhood, she wants her children to be happy and hopeful, to be filled with light, in a world with ample darkness. The novel focuses on the intensity of childhood emotions, and accentuates the impermanence of adult relationships and the transient nature of everything. The issue of the trip to the Lighthouse is brought up time and time again in the first section of To the Lighthouse, The Window, in which through repetition and stream-of-consciousness writing (Virginia Woolf's trademark style), the interior monologues of various characters are presented, seizing fleeting moods, feelings, thoughts, and insecurities, and the transient nature of things and relationships, giving permanence to these moments in the book, making them immortal--which seems to have been the author's goal. Like our own thoughts, which are often repetitious (and dare I say dull at times), the characters seem to tire of their own cyclical thoughts. At other times, their disjointed thoughts are featured. Virginia Woolf captures the dual reality of thought in To The Lighthouse, thought which is alternatively repetitive and disconnected. (Think about your own thinking--isn't it also this way?)

Just as in the story the painter Lily Briscoe tries to capture beautiful Mrs. Ramsay in a painting (although Lily is scoffed at, and the male belief was that women could neither paint nor write) the book attempts to make the impermanent permanent, and portrays these fleeting moments brilliantly, especially those between husband and wife. This is Virginia's Woolf's most autobiographical novel, and her husband, Leonard Woolf, called it a masterpiece. Virginia Woolf broke from tradition in this three part book, a novel in which there's not much action or dialogue, but instead much thought, about the ordinary as well as about time and the fleeting nature of life. One of the book's main themes is the ubiquity of transience. Is there an antidote for this often disturbing transience? Virginia Woolf suggests to women that while family and human relationships are important (although difficult sometimes), creative work may hold the key--meaningful work that will engage and may even outlive us. In this way, transience may be transcended to some degree.

You can read all three sections of To The Lighthouse online, compliments of Project Gutenberg Australia. To the Lighthouse was made into a TV movie released in 1983, which stars Rosemary Harris, Michael Gough, Suzanne Bertish, and Kenneth Branagh.

1/30/10 Update: For another review of To The Lighthouse, please visit Absorbed in Words.