Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah both in the same movie? Pinch me I must be dreaming!

How contrived can this get? A girl, pursued by her abusive father travels across racist South Carolina in the early 1960's with her mopey African-American girlfriend. They arrive at the door of August Boatwright, a maternal black woman, who lives on an idyllic property with her sisters. The women raise bees (bees live in societies ruled by a mother figure - get it?) and worship the Black Madonna which is a figure from the Middle Ages which has been adopted by the neo-pagans as a symbol of universal mother. I know this is based on an award winning novel but please, this plot reads like a checked off list of things that make Oprah's audience misty eyed.

Alright, so I may not be the main target demographic for this flick.