It seems anymore that I prefer documentaries more and more. You can walk away with something to chew on and think about.
The film opens with a topless woman wearing a swarm of honey-bees weaving in a trance-like state. The camera circles her and then cuts to a single honey-bee crawling on a sunflower.
The film updates the story of honey-bees from wonderful world of Disney to today's crisis where hives have been dying off in staggering numbers.
Without honey-bees, most of the fruits, flowers and foods we love go without pollination and do not reproduce. It seems as though only New Zealand has avoided the mass bee die-off.
The film balances good information about the crisis with individual stories and people who make us smile, but move the story along.
No 3D. No FX. Just an important story well-told that will be remembered the next time you see a honey-bee.
Other than encouraging more urban bee-keepers (the film ends with a small bit about the repeal of NYC's ban on urban bee-keeping which seemed tacked-on), the film doesn't give the average viewer much hope or many suggestions for personal action. I mean, I don't think I'l be asking if the queen bee of the hive from which the farmer extracted the honey for sale was naturally de-flowered (which is nicely rendered in a simple animation) or was inseminated with the semen of just one drone.
Good for all ages.
