More Than Honey

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Markus Imhoof's More Than Honey is an interesting, and interestingly laidback film, an almost restful look at honeybees and the way they are kept and cultivated across the world. In Austria, an elderly man keeps them the way his forebears did; in Germany they are rigorously studied; in the US their commercial possibilities are savoured and in China they are worked harder than ever. But what about the worrying issue of the bees' apparent disappearance? The so-called "colony collapse disorder"? In George Langworthy and Maryam Henein's the 2009 documentary The Vanishing of the Bees, this was a matter of urgent concern, a possible eco-calamity. Without the bees' pollinating work, agriculture could collapse. Imhoof seems disconcertingly untroubled. Well, there is much to enjoy here, including the perennially fascinating question of whether bees are effectively buzzing cells in super-organisms. The mystery and beauty of bees emerge strongly enough. But should we be seriously concerned, or not?

Imhoof schafft ein informatives Gruppenporträt mit überwältigenden Makroaufnahmen aus dem Innern der Bienenwabe, wie man sie in ihrer Intimität wohl selten gesehen hat. Mithilfe eines «Bienenflüsterers» und modernster Kameratechniken führt er uns durchs Reich der Bienen, als wäre es das eigene Wohnzimmer. Sein Umgang mit den geflügelten Protagonistinnen bleibt dabei so respektvoll, dass man ihm gerne den etwas zu schwärmerisch geratenen Schluss verzeiht. Schweizer Filmpreis für den besten Dokumentarfilm und die beste Musik.