Bee Season
Grade: |
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Plot Summary:
Eliza Neumann has a talent for 'seeing' words and uses it to compete in a national spelling bee. Unfortunately, her success comes at a time where her family is falling apart... Much religious philosophy mixed with ABC's ensues...
Opinion:
"Bee Season" is a limited release film ($1.1 million gross box office in the US) with top-notch production values and good acting from some well-known names that belie its independent nature. It is 'about' a young girl named Eliza with a talent for spelling words, but like many family dramas, her talent is just a subtext for many of the events of the movie, and could have featured a young girl with a talent for math or music with only minor changes.
The heart of the film involves the struggles of the Neumann family--where Eliza, the youngest, seems to be routinely ignored by her father in favor of her more talented brother Aaron. When her talent for spelling words is discovered after winning a district spelling bee, her father goes from ignoring her to smothering her...and ignoring her brother. (This gives you a key insight into some of the problems within the family...) Eliza and Aaron's mom is kind and supportive to whichever one of them is not getting their father's attention at the moment, but gets more and more distant from the family as long-suppressed psychological problems begin to envelop her life. Aaron, for his part, loves and supports his sister without showing any sign of jealousy, but hates his dad (whether he happened to be getting his attention or not) and rebels against his Jewish heritage by joining the Hare Krishnas while his father remains oblivious.
Religion plays a key role in "Bee Season"--although (from an LDS perspective) it has some wild ideas about religion which don't quite add up. Eliza's dad is a teacher of ancient Jewish theology and is Jewish himself, although he has to be one of the most irreligious religious persons I've ever seen. Upon discovering his daughter's gift for spelling, he immediately ties it to an ancient Kabbalah tradition, saying Eliza's gift goes, in fact, far deeper than merely spelling words. She has the ability to, in his words, "go beyond prayer" to a method of divine communication where "God not only listens, but talks back!" Okay...so, if I'm following this correctly, 'regular' prayers are thus meaningless--unless you have this gift, God not only doesn't answer prayers, but He doesn't even listen to them? I'm not familiar with the doctrines of ancient (or modern) Judaism, but that takes an extremely impersonal view of God and prayer.
Eliza's father talks a lot about God--as if God was some distant planet that, if you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of now and again if (and only if) you're using a powerful telescope--but doesn't seem to feel God, except as a word that gets used a lot in his profession. It's not obvious from the movie that he has ever attempted to view religion through anything but a scholarly lens--there's no personal religious observance (including prayer) other than the occasional reading of ancient texts. Given his influence, then, it's probably not surprising that each of the other members of his family seems to feel spiritually empty, and conducts their own search for peace and enlightenment through different paths apart from Judaism. Aaron's search for fulfillment leads to Catholicism first, and then to the Hare Krishnas--although in the end it appears to be less because they fill a spiritual void and more because (1) a extremely cute girl invites him to attend with her, and (2) he knows it will seriously annoy his father... Eliza's mom's attempts at finding peace lead to criminal activity and eventual hospitalization. And Eliza herself accepts at face value her dad's interpretation of her inner gifts, and seeks to discern God's will through her ability to visualize the spelling and meaning of words through 'vision'.
The entire movie emanates quality...but, you know, I just didn't quite get where it was going. Eliza makes a decision at the end that just doesn't follow from the whole of the movie preceding it, and seems to have limited utility towards helping herself--or anyone in her family--obtain the peace they're searching for. The whole exercise seems somewhat hollow at the end--a two-hour meditation on spiritual enlightenment with no real answers nor any sense of closure. Perhaps an LDS perspective is not the right filter to view a movie such as this, although the ideas presented shouldn't be completely impenetrable to non-Jewish viewers. The fundamental concept of the movie--that words can have powerful spiritual meaning--has a clear parallel with LDS theology, where God uses words to create the universe, and, in fact, sends the "Word" of God (His Son, Jesus Christ) to Earth to save mankind. And yet, the movie just didn't coalesce into anything of significance at the end. High quality elements aside, "Bee Season" becomes a unmoving exercise of faux spirituality that I suspect will not be meaningful to the average LDS viewer...
Content Analysis: (PG-13, 3-2-0-0 on the Baron's PSVD scale)
There are some minor scenes of sexuality between a married couple, but the rating comes primarily from a brief argument between Aaron and his dad where both of them let the profanity fly. That's really the only scene standing between "Bee Season" and a PG. Although at heart I don't think this was meant to be a 'family' movie, it would serve as a good example for a discussion about parenting (if anyone chooses to view it as such). It's easy to see how Eliza's dad is not a 'bad' father by any means, but tends to put pressure on his family in small ways, and doesn't notice the warning signs from them to him that things aren't okay--things that have slowly built up over time into major relationship problems between them.
In-depth Analysis:
Okay, I'll admit that I really don't understand why Eliza felt the need to throw the spelling bee at the end. The easiest interpretation is that since her dad desires her to win so badly (seemingly more for personal gratification from being her father than real joy in her success), then her not winning would be important in letting him find humility and come to terms with what the rest of his family needs from him, instead of vice versa. Eliza's own words earlier in the movie, however, suggest that her decision was vital for her mother recovering, which doesn't seem to follow... It's arguable that her participation in spelling had simply attracted too much of her dad's attention and it needed to stop in order for him to spend more time with his wife and son, but the fact that she waits until the very last moment to lose undercuts this theory, because the time spent spelling was right at its end whether she spelled the last word correctly or not...
This confusion ends the movie on a hollow note (with no further scenes showing the aftermath) with Eliza making a decision with seemingly meaningless results. Sure, from a personal standpoint she (or anyone) doesn't need to win a championship in order to be a quality person, but her choosing not to win with no tangible benefit for doing so seems pointless.
We might also discuss her decision in terms of a key parable from the New Testament:
14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. (Matthew 25)
The purpose of having God-given talents is to exercise and develop them. While there are times where being ultra-competitive is not appropriate (playing with kids, for instance, or when you're on a date), to purposefully fail to use your abilities to their fullest in a national championship competition seems to defy the spirit behind having the talent in the first place, especially without a good reason for doing so. Why would she even have this apparent gift from God, if He did not intend for her to use it? While certainly this isn't a 'sin' worthy of being cast into outer darkness (as in the parable above), I would submit that one should either not participate in the competition from the beginning, or compete with the best of their abilities to win...
Random Notes & Comments:
(1) "Bee Season" is based on a highly rated novel of the same name by Myla Goldberg, which is reportedly much darker than the film turned out to be...
