I had been needing a good cry, have I mentioned that? Well, today I had it. While watching the movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," the tears got turned on early, within the first half-hour, and didn't really get turned off until the end. Some movies affect me that deeply. I remember crying while reading the book, but not as much as during the movie. If you go, take plenty of tissues, something I forgot.

I was impressed with how closely the movie script adhered to the book, some veer wildly from the original tale. Not this one. The racism of 1964 depicted in the movie was a little more blatant, flagrant even, than we see today, but there are remnants of it that have survived. Hopefully, one day it will die off. It's so ugly, so uncivil.

Some critics have not appreciated the movie's themes of redemtion, tolerance, love and healing, calling it syruppy sentimentality, but could there be a more timely season for such themes than this election year? I think not. Evidently, I'm not the only one as it has proved to be successful at the boxoffice, too.