Written by Maggie Maize, Photo courtesy of SCAD
This documentary loosely tracks a year of U.S. pollination. Commercial beekeepers move hives at night on semi-trucks, veiled under dark nets. “The Pollinators” does a beautiful job clarifying the elusive save-the-bee topic by giving us the facts and following the industry as well as the bees.
The film also points to improvements everyone can make. Instead of placing faith in federal-scale changes, “The Pollinators” encourages a ground-up culture shift. Sustainable food supply is an issue that affects everyone. It reminds us that we all stand on dirt. The way we treat plants and insects holds consequences. It reminds us that here, consumers have influence. It’s about changing our mindsets too.
“The Pollinators” is spotted with stunning slow-motion footage of butterflies and bees at work. These reverent moments build connections that lack in the interviews. Perhaps the interviewees don’t want their ethos tainted by opinion. For this reason, however, it feels as though the insects carry the emotional weight.
In an almond orchard in California, one after another, honeybees remove their dead from the hive. They drop the bodies outside the entrance. The still forms starkly contrast the liveliness within the hives, on the flowers. Lab tests reveal which chemicals kill them. But of course, a farm cannot control what their neighbor sprays. Regulations in the U.S. are poorly enforced anyway, and the USDA and EPA don’t communicate well.
It’s alarming, the extreme measures the beekeepers take to keep their bees alive. From splitting hives by planting new queens, to following crops and weather, it’s a delicate balance. The crops need the bees; the bees need the nectar; we need the crops. Parts of that circle bulge while the bees run low on food.
Director Peter Nelson uses dynamic aerial footage to let us experience the blueberry fields in Maine from a bee’s vantage point. This, and clips of the beekeepers working in golden hour light is just shy of magic. This adept camera work helped off-set the untextured.
That said, one of the film’s greatest strength is its science-approach. Not only are the arguments grounded, but they refrain from pointing fingers (aside from the EPA, of course). Jonathan Lundgren, Ph.D., stresses that change starts in healthy soil. When people shift to ground-up farming, they allow nature to remain complex, which is something monoculture strips away.
“The Pollinators” offers an optimistic perspective that looks ahead and keeps the bees aloft.
