Sue Monk Kidd's popular 2002 book, The Secret Life of Bees, has hit the big screen. The story takes place in South Carolina in 1964, a time when racial issues in the south were still an everyday presence. What might have been a ho-hum movie is elevated by the powerful acting of Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo and Paul Bettany.

The movie starts with a startling revelation showing a young man and woman struggling, a gun suddenly present, then followed by a shot and a voiceover statement from Fanning: “I killed my mother when I was four years old. That's all I know about myself.”

What the audience learns quickly is that Lily Owens (Fanning), now 14, is being raised by her abusive father T. Ray (Bettany). Her world appears desolate, desperate and fearful. Their black housekeeper, Rosaleen (Hudson), becomes the closest thing Lily has to any affection. When her father punishes Lily and Rosaleen so severely for little reason, Lily decides she’s had enough. She packs a few belongings, and the two girls run away.

They end up a few towns away, drawn to a bright pink house where they stop and ask to work for food. The house belongs to the Boatwright sisters. These three black women run a bee-keeping business. June (Keys) wants to send the girls on their way, but kindhearted August (Latifah) offers them a bed in the bee house and jobs.

The girls make themselves useful immediately. Lily, accompanying August to the bee hives everyday, learns about the complex world of bees and the story of the remarkably independent sisters as well. It’s also a chance for August to discover the truth behind the little white lies Lily told upon arriving at their home. Rosaleen, a good cook, finds a great place in the kitchen with May (Okonedo), a somewhat unusual girl who’s coddle by her sisters. But they also gather a constant stream of enlightenment from her.

While life moves at a snail’s pace in the film, there are several upheavals that gain attention. Lily has her first romantic fling with August's godson Zach (Tristan Wilds), which -- which being a mixed-raced friendship -- stirs up the community. When T. Ray learns about Lily’s whereabouts, he shows up threatening to take her home.

Screenwriter and director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball) does a great job of balancing the coming-of-age story with racial tensions of the time and Lily’s heartbreaking life. Fanning continues to be an amazing actress as she ages. Her Lily is so poignant, at times the raw emotions she presents clearly come across as Oscar worthy. Yet she just as easily has a delightful playful side.

Latifah (Mad Money) always offers a believable character, and I find her enjoyable in any role. Hudson, the American Idol contestant who didn’t win on the show but went on to earn an Academy Award in 2006 for Best Supporting Actress in Dreamgirls, is now quite the accomplished actress. She’s not afraid to be vulnerable as Rosaleen, infusing her character with heartfelt realism.

T. Ray adds tension to this story, and Bettany (The Da Vinci Code) gives him an angry chip on his shoulder the size of the entire South. While watching Bettany’s performance as this obviously cruel person, I wanted more information about T. Ray’s predicament.

Some may call The Secret Life of Bees a chic flick, but many of the males at the screening I attended also had good things to say about it. Rather than watching a re-run of George Bush’s life (in W.) or a gritty “good cop/bad cop” movie made with a hand held camera that moves so fast the scenes are a blur (in Pride and Glory), The Secret Life of Bees just might be a far better option.

(Released by Fox Searchlight and rated “PG-13: for thematic material and some violence.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com .