Fridae

If you enjoy watching Oprah and women's dramas like How To Make an American Quilt and Fried Green Tomatoes, then you'll probably enjoy this adaptation of the bestselling novel by Sue Monk Kidd too.

The story is set in a small town in 1964 South Carolina. Preternaturally talented Dakota Fanning plays a 14-year-old girl who is haunted by the guilt of having accidentally killed her mother years ago. Her abusive father (Paul Bettany) doesn't make things any easier, so she decides to flee home for a place she had seen in one of her Mum's pictures.

That place is a beekeeping farm run by three black women (Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Alicia Keys). They took her in and cared for her, teaching her how to make honey. Along the way, she also picked up values of racial tolerance, love and forgiveness from the sistas.

Directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood, The Secret Life of Bees will be liked by some and dismissed by others. Folks who don't like chick flicks should stay away, but those who do will enjoy its common folk wisdom as well as the strong performances from Dakota, Sophie and Latifah.