Ulee’s Gold is Not Honey:

The Incapacitating Effects of Isolation

In Victor Nunez’s film, Ulee’s Gold, we are first introduced to Ulee Jackson and his bees. They buzz around the hive that he is tending to like a city full of bustling crowds pushing past each other, crawling over one another to find their places. We come to learn though that the hive is their home and that the bees work to maintain it. In the same way, Ulee works hard to provide financially for his own family, but they’re all pushing and struggling against one another as they search for home. However, Ulee discovers that far more than a house is needed for him to provide all that his struggling family needs. As the film progresses, Ulee has an especially hard time learning the necessity of receiving help from others, both inside and outside of his family. Ulee is extremely independent in the beginning of the film, and he tends to isolate himself emotionally and socially because of the painful losses he has experienced in his life. Ulee must gradually find that caring for his family can be so much more than a responsibility; rather it becomes his joy to serve his family, as they truly become loved on

This is when the most major turning point comes. Ulee sits alone at the kitchen table. He is alone again and has managed to push everyone successfully away. In his anger, he even yelled at Ms. Hope; but by asking her to have some tea, Ulee finally invites her into his life. His willingness to serve her is expressed by the close-ups of his hands placing the teacup on the table and then of his hands pouring the hot water. Reaction shots of Connie in these few shots reveal that she is flattered and impressed at his tiny acts of service and gestures of kindness. This scene is really significant, because Ulee shares a lot about himself verbally. But, more than anything, the mise-en-scene speaks for the two of them. The composition is almost nothing but close-ups of the two, back and forth, implying that their conversation is intimate, personal and vulnerable. White daylight pours into the kitchen window onto their faces as they talk about the past, but the lighting indicates hopefulness. By letting Connie in on his feelings, hurts and exhaustion, Ulee essentially allows room in his heart for both Ms. Hope and hope itself. Finally Ulee is not alone.

Getting rid of the stolen money is the last aspect of cleaning up that Ulee must do. Earlier in the film, when Ulee speaks to Eddie about the money, he suggests that Eddie move on with his life. Eddie refuses to do so, but it is clear that Ulee would love to be rid of the burden of that money’s existence in the life of his family. The mise-en-scene of the late night tromp through the forest and the swampy bee yards provide a literal picture of the filth that Eddie and Ferris are willing to trod through for money. Ferris fetches the old cooler like a dog, and symbolically muddies himself entirely, signifying the moral muck that covers his entire being. The stab wound that Ulee receives from Eddie in the end is his final sacrifice that he makes for his family. He has successfully rid them of their past when Eddie and Ferris are arrested, but not without this sacrifice and suffering.

The first character, after Ulee to be introduced is the innocent, Penny, when Ulee picks her up from school in his truck. Just before he picks her up, there is a medium close shot of Ulee waiting in his truck as a school bus drives by. On the surface, the school bus simply establishes that Ulee is near a school. But on another level, the school bus is public transportation on which many children ride. Because we soon see Penny waiting to be picked up, it becomes clear that she is probably quite isolated in school. She stands alone, not talking to anyone around her, and she does not ride the bus like the other kids. As she enters the truck, we see her through a point of view shot from Ulee’s perspective. This reveals that they have a significant relationship and it is with Penny that Ulee sympathizes the most. She calls him by his first name and speaks to him somewhat politely, asking him how he’s been. This is unusually adult behavior for a child so young who is also this man’s own granddaughter. From her appearance, her plaid shirt around her waist and her somewhat stringy hair, we can gather that she is young and somewhat boyish. Her plaid shirt will become a common symbol of her desire to be like Ulee (or to be closely connected to him) since he is almost always clad in plaid flannel himself. Penny’s closest “friend” is her dog, Buckshot, which again emphasizes her youthfulness, isolation and her boyishness. Her loneliness often parallels Ulee’s solitude; however, Penny differs from Ulee in that she actively pursues relationships with others, especially with him.

These themes are of course, conveyed through dialogue. The script includes some key lines of dialogue, which bring these themes into obvious focus. However, because the characters are very slow to reveal their true feelings verbally, this film relies heavily upon mise-en-scene (especially the se

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