I was attracted to the documentary Colony in part because I have a beekeeper hobbyist friend, but more or less just because I think that if all the bees died, it would really suck for us, meaning people and other animals.
Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell followed a few beekeeping businessmen around for a couple years, during which time things go from bad to worse for the beekeeping industry. The film starts off well enough, educating the average film goer, say me, about how the beekeeping industry works. It turns out that the whole honey things is really just a side business, and that the majority of their income revolves around getting paid by farmers to haul their bees around the country and set them free around almond orchards, fruit orchards, and the like. Without bees pollinating the plants and trees, apparently things don't go quite so well.
After laying the foundation, the film moves on to the exploration the phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. Apparently, entire hives of bees have just been disappearing. They're not found dead anywhere, they just "go away", and no one knows for sure why.
At this point, I felt the film began to lose its focus. Instead of fully exploring all the angles of CCD and the different theories behind its cause, it switches gears frequently between CCD, the effect of the collapsing economy on beekeepers, and the Seppi family itself.
The Seppis are admittedly a fascinating study, though in a really creepy sort of way. They seem more like fictional movie characters than real people living here on earth. We spend a lot of time with them and in one scene, they gather around a table taking turns praying for things like "good business advice". The mother is particular dominant in family matters, though she seems not to get involved directly in business matters. The combination of the collapse of the economy coupled with the collapse of many of their hives seems to be too much for the Seppi family, and they are losing money.
Is the movie about CCD? The beekeeping industry? The families that run these operations? Their dialog with Bayer CropScience, Inc.? I'm not sure, as the movie seemed to lose its focus and, at least in my case, its viewer. My imdb rating: 4/10.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I just read an article in Discover Mag about this. I would like to provide a link but the article is not on their website (that I can locate). The article has several biologists state that the reason for CCD is rooted in the process of inbreeding in US commercial bee colonies. This has overall weakened the bees' ability to defend themselves from mites, viruses, etc. CCD has the distinction of bees disappearing, maybe they lose their sense of direction. Ok that was a joke.
Post a Comment