Somehow the themes explore in The Secret Life of Bees seem both familiar and alien. It’s a tale set in South Carolina in 1964, just as Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act. By all accounts it was a defining moment in race relations in the United States, but someone didn’t tell the trio of racists that stop Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) from going into town to register to vote. As the men manhandle her for having the audacity to exercise her franchise, she spits in their face, and not only is Rosaleen beaten for the “offense” she’s arrested as the criminal too.

So begins a film that in the grand sense explores the social ills that choked a country, while also focusing on smaller scale notions of finding home and leading a life removed from stale pronouncements of what’s “acceptable.” Rosaleen is rescued from her hospital bed by Lily (Dakota Fanning), a 14-year-old girl who’s been practically raised by Rosaleen since the accidental death of her mother ten years earlier. Her father T. Ray (Paul Bettany) is abusive and borderline cruel, taunting Lily with stories about how her mother ran away and didn’t love her anymore; stories Lily both refuses to believe while worrying that they’re true.

Like a fairy tale, Lily and Rosaleen find their way to the pint house of the Boatwright sisters. They raise bees, and distribute the honey in jars affixed with their symbol, a black Virgin Mary. The distinctive label is one of the few keepsakes Lily saved following her mother’s death, so it’s a clue but a clue to what? But in looking for answers about her mother, Lily, along with Rosaleen find a family with the Boatwrights. True, all this is rather contrived and convenient, but leave cynicism at the door and you won’t leave the theatre disappointed. I also like the leisurely pace of this movie; very chill, very relaxed. It’s got somewhere to go and it knows it’s going to get there.

The acting though is where this movie comes to life. Fanning is clearly in her awkward teen phase, but at least she’s using it to her advantage here playing a conflicted girl who’s anxious about her pocket full of secrets and worried about which one will spill out first and to whom. The real gravitas in this movie though belongs to Queen Latifah as the matriarch August, whose grounded strength and settling calm is like a cool drink on a hot summer’s day. Latifah owns every scene she’s and her presence is unmistakeable, and unshakeable. The real surprise though is Bettany, whom I didn’t even recognize till the credits rolled. It’s like he uses T. Ray’s anger and frustration and uglies himself up with it, till he’s unrecognizable. It’s a truly frightening performance from the actor that couldn’t even make an evil albino a little bit scary.

The film is not without it’s faults, and although I appreciated the leisurely pace, there was really no sense of urgency given what was going on in the story; even the death of a major character seems to come and go like the inevitable turning of the tide – just one of those things that happens. Some of the characters also lack a degree of character development; despite major life changes it seems that Rosaleen doesn’t do too much personal growth and is as shy and put-off at the end of the movie as she is in the beginning. But at least the film never fails to engage and you remain invested in the characters and their outcome and in knowing that in the end it might all be okay. Considering the doldrums these days, seeing such wish fulfillment, even for a little while, is a nice reprieve.