Bee Season

Based on the best selling novel by Myla Goldberg, Bee Season is not the movie you think, not at all. The spelling bee is just the device this drama uses to introduce us to this family of religious intellectuals, who will suffer serious spiritual changes and awakenings before it's over. It is rated PG-13, breaking common MPAA rules, it has 2 'fucks', but should kids see it? I'm not so sure, as it could raise some tough questions about religion that are not for everybody. The main theme here is the study and practice of Kabbalah, which is not just something crazy Madonna does. I had actually no idea what it was before the movie, and now I do, at least some.

The movie centers on Eliza Naumann, an 11-year-old girl who start winning spelling bee competitions, first at her school and then the District tournament. Her family doesn't know about it. Her father is Saul, a Jewish college professor who teaches religion and the Kabbalah. He also practiced Kabbalah once but he could not accomplish it. He's very close to his son Aaron, a teenager who is a gifted violinist. They practice together all the time at night, neglecting Eliza and Miriam, the mom of the family. Miriam is a scientist.
That neglecting is what makes Eliza hide her triumphs from her father and mother, but after winning district, which is when Aaron learns about it as he has to give her a ride, the rest of the family founds out too, making Saul get close to her little girl and start neglecting Aaron now. Meanwhile, Miriam keeps being neglected and for some reason she starts going out at night, not to clubs or anything like that, but getting up in the middle of the night and leaving the house in her pajamas. She drives around, parks in the middle of streets and breaks into empty house taking little objects with her, we don't know why.
After Saul sees Eliza win again, he takes her into her office and starts helping her study for the competitions and then teaching her Kabbalah, a practice that lets those who achieve it (who is almost nobody says Saul) connect with God. A great student of it said that it could be done by working and playing with words, as words reflect reality, but they also create it. So Saul sees Eliza's spelling bee wins and ease with words and wants her to practice Kabbalah, and she eventually does. What Saul doesn't know is that Eliza doesn't need any of it. She hears the words, closes her eyes, and the words appear in front of her, they are there in all forms possible, usually according to the word they are spelling. She explains this to her mother and here's when we learn a bit more about her. Miriam's parents died in a car accident when she was young, and she's had emotional problems about it ever since, those little objects she steals, often shinny or with prismatic shapes, reflect her likeness for kaleidoscopes, which reminds her of the broken glasses from the crashed car. During the movie she gradually gets worse with her problem. Aaron goes into a spiritual journey too because of his father's disregardance and goes in different religious ways. First he attends a Catholic church, then reads a book about Hinduism, to finally get recruited by a beautiful young girl named Chali to the Hare Krishna.
As Eliza keeps winning and getting closer to God, the family falls apart in very different but all interest, educative and very thought-provoking ways.

The performances are top notch here. Eliza is played by French newcomer Flora Cross who is truly an amazing actress at her young age. She has an inner acting going on that is canalized just in the right way with perfect timing. This girl has bright future ahead of her. Max Minghella plays her Aaron and a great performance from him too. He's got an excellent scene with the father that is just a perfect expression of acted anger. Saul is played by Richard Gere, and even though the character is not a great father, nor person by any means, Gere does great here and plays him very well. Juliette Binoche plays Miriam and is a tough performance as she is by herself in most of her scenes she does it well too. There's one terribly good scene she has that will make people jump from their seats.

The movie also has great use of CGI when Eliza works her magic, as signs in the rooms get highlighted right on the correct letters to spell the words, or objects appear out of nowhere and shape themselves into different letters. There's great camera work too throughout the entire movie, with some great innovative shots and angles. Adapted for the screen by Naomi Foner and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, Bee Season is a family movie, mindblowing, haunting, and the most powerful movie I've seen all year.