Honeybee Blues (Stephan Moore, 2009): Australia/USA

Reviewed by Paula Gomez. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Of all the colors of the rainbow blue is the most cross-culturally associated with sadness or a state of being that brings about emotional chaos and instability. In The Honeybee Blues, a type of sadness, chaos and instability is depicted from the well filmed and edited story that unravels how and why honeybees across the earth are becoming extinct. It effectively engages the audience in an ecological saddening story that can determine the survival of many species on earth. Nevertheless, the soothing tone of the narrator’s voice (Jennifer Vuletic), the vibrant non-diegetic music, beautiful close ups of honeybees, and playful CGI, effectively pacifies that emotion throughout the film and incites comfort in these hard times of honeybee pre-extinction.

The honeybees are an extremely important species that can determine the survival of many other species on earth, for they are responsible for pollinating a tremendous amount of crops that feed many of their neighboring cohabitants. This visually appealing documentary’s vital message, presented to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2010, is clear and simple. We must save the honeybees because, as one of the greatest pollinators, they majorly influence the billion dollar industry of agriculture. Without agriculture, there are no crops. And without crops we may even cease to exist ourselves.

The leading character, a highly charismatic scientist (Dr. Denis Anderson), from Australia, guides us through his investigations, analysis and discoveries regarding the main threat and cause of the honeybees’ extinction. He accounts the responsibility of the massive honeybee deaths to a particular mite that carries and delivers a fatal virus to the honeybees. He goes on a search to find out how far this fatal mite infestation has gone in the world, and takes the viewer with him to observe and verify acute cases of infestation.

The camera fuctioning as his companion delivers magnificent extreme close ups shots of these infestations and allows the viewer to see for themselves the gruesome sites of the mites attatched to the honeybees.  Sympathy and remorse come to mind for the viewer and this effect helps to reiterate the importance of the central message of the movie which is to save the honeybees from extinction. The playful CGI of the life cycle of the mites also helps the viewer to better understand the microscopic world that the scientist is exploring. And meanwhile, the music as well as the narrator’s tone of voice help to keep an uplifting morale above the heartbreaking news of infestation.

One of the challenges that this documentary presents to the viewer is to think of a way to solve this critical dilemma with the aid of the findings from Dr. Denis Anderson and to help spread the word about the importance of finding a solution to this problem. The results of an extinction of honeybees would be catastrophic and this film helps to inform the viewer about this fact. It is similar to a cross between a Discovery Channel wild life production with An Inconvenient Truth. It does a good job balancing its melancholic information or blue tone, with a more hopeful and uplifting character through the charismatic scientist, the soothing narrator’s voice and the uplifting non-diegetic music in the movie. It is an international subject matter and well worth one’s time.