Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-24 07:28:07

Must-see

10 out of 10 stars, a must-see. If you care about this planet you should watch this movie. You'll definitely gain a new appreciation for bees and organic agriculture.

newyorker10022 2012-05-23 15:57:13

Thoughtful and informative

Vanishing of the Bees is a thoughtful and informative look at thepotential reasons behind colony collapse disorder (CCD), in contrast toso many documentaries which are alarmist and sensationalist. As anamateur beekeeper I am interested in bees, of course, but I saw thisfilm to better educate myself on where our food comes from. Afterwatching "Vanishing" I felt that I had gained a common-senseunderstanding of how a few agricultural practices in the developedworld can be strongly linked to CCD. The film also left me wonderingwhy more isn't being done to change our current practices. I think thisfilm is a must-see for anyone interested in food, farming, or bees.

cazonaquest 2012-05-21 20:18:28

Disappointing

I bought the DVD of this in London shortly after its cinema release inthe city and I was very excited having heard a great deal about it. Thesubject of the disappearance of the honey bee is very important andneeds to be brought into the public domain as often as possible but thehandling of the material here is, in my opinion, very muddled. Thisdocumentary film is too long or seems to be) and it is not atechnically skilled work. It lacks fine film imagery and a good editorwith a sharp, innovative eye. Consequently, this film finally fails tohit home its vital message. However, I do not doubt that thefilmmaker's heart is in the right place, but there are several otherfilms on this subject that are better made and I would recommend themabove this title.

2012-05-21 07:52:58

Glad I am a beekeeper

I got started in beekeeping 3 years ago because I heard that the bees were vanishing. I didn't really have a grasp of what that meant until watching this movie. This movie puts the bee business and big agriculture into perspective. I think that it shows how everything is connected and if we don't take care of the planet, its creatures and ourselves, we won't have a safe place to live. I am not an earthy crunchy, green peacenik, but I find colony collapse disorder incredibly alarming. I think that people who don't know what that means should watch this movie and educate themselves. Those who like to eat should have a hive... or two.

tmhol37 2012-05-11 20:50:05

A Must-See

This film, like many other noteworthy independent documentaries thataim to educate the public, is necessary viewing for everyone whoappreciates the food they eat and the intricate web of life they're apart of. It's also, especially, for those who do not. Both tragic and inspiring, the call to action of the film is clear:Honeybees are threatened by everything from the pesticides we use onour mono-crops, to the lack of plant diversity established from suchcrop formations, to climate change and harsh industrial shippingpractices. Honeybees, in short, are exhausted and are disappearing atan alarming rate across the world. Vanishing of the Bees highlightsthat without them, we have no food and the balance of nature isdangerously off. Watch the film to learn and then educate those aroundyou. Honeybees aren't just "pests" in your yard, and they don't justproduce honey; they are the basic neurons of our food system, andessentially, of our life.

dancingbeeapiary 2012-05-11 13:41:16

Fantastic!!

I run a small organic apiary in Washington State. I took a year longcourse in bee keeping and read every book out there before I evenstarted with my first colony. I attended all of the local Bee KeepersAssociation meetings and kept a journal of all of my findings during myhive inspections. I sought out natural remedies for some of the issuesI had heard are common in bees in this region, I thought I was prettywell versed on the subject of organic beekeeping. AFter watching thisfilm, I realized there was so much that I didn't know! So much that Inever recognized many things to be problematic! I recommend all youngand old with an interest in bees, eating healthy produce, the Earth towatch this film. It was an eye opener for me and it gave me the rightkick to do what I can to make this world a better place for our beesand our future kin. I have since then accepted a position on the Boardof Directors for the local bee keepers group and am trying with all mymight to change the thought process of our local bee keepers! Thank youfor further opening my eyes and making this wonderful film!

2012-05-04 08:33:26

Giving new meaning to the phrasal verb, "Buzz off"

As I write this in September 2011 and summer is coming to a close, the 2009 documentary VANISHNG OF THE BEES makes me realize I have not seen many bees throughout the season. Come to think of it, the past few summers I've encountered relatively few bees.The way VANISHING OF THE BEES explains the situation, bees are not avoiding just me. What the film deems Colony Collapse Disorder results in beekeepers discovering their honeybees literally disappearing. VANISHING OF THE BEES reminds us honeybees pollinate enough crops to be responsible for "one out of every three bites of food on our tables," so this is not just nature taking its course.So, why are the bees buzzing off? Because agribusiness, pushing pesticides and farming monocultures, fails to heed the Chiffon warning, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." In the name of cutting costs, the food industry unwittingly undermines itself by killing off irreplaceable honeybees.See VANISHING OF THE BEES.

2012-05-03 13:24:48

Solid bit of educational filmmaking

Judge Clark Douglas, DVD Verdict-- In late 2006, bees in North America started disappearing. This startling new trend (dubbed by scientists as Colony Collapse Disorder) generated a wide variety of conspiracy theories about the root cause of the disappearances--perhaps cell phones were to blame, or maybe it had something to do with the forthcoming apocalypse--but scientists were unable to effectively pin down the culprit responsible. The 2009 documentary Vanishing of the Bees isn't any more successful in terms of finding the official cause, but it does provide a reasonably compelling suggestion and mostly manages to avoid the absurd hyperbole that has surrounded the Great American Bee Debate.In fact, so much of Vanishing of the Bees is so reasonable that it's a little startling when the film tosses us a fleeting curveball (as it does every 10-15 minutes).Given some of the doomsday conversation that has surrounded this topic, Vanishing of the Bees does an admirable job of staying away from the kind of sensationalist rhetoric that has fueled so many magazine articles on the subject (which usually begin by quoting Albert Einstein and end by proclaiming that we'll all be dead soon if we don't figure this out by yesterday). Perhaps recognizing that it's taking enough license with its slightly-overconfident pesticide proclamations, the documentary otherwise chooses to focus on the effects CCD has on beekeepers and crops.The DVD transfer is sturdy if unremarkable, faring the best when it focuses on its striking collection of farmland imagery. There are quite a few talking heads, along with some animated slides that look kind of crummy (along those lines, the pieces of archival footage employed look rougher than they ought to, also). Audio is clear and clean throughout, dominated by interviews with a host of bee farmers, scientists and activists, plus narration courtesy of Ellen Page (whose high-pitched, emotionally involved intonations are a pleasant contrast to the usual sort of booming gravitas that often accompanies this sort of thing). Extras include "Honeybee Rescue" (a piece on how to correctly remove a bee colony from your land), "Beekeeping in France" (a piece about beekeeping in France) and "Colony Collapse Disorder" (an animated short outlining the specifics of the disorder). The disc is housed in environmentally-friendly (I guess?) but super-flimsy packaging, as the disc sits on a thin plush dot stuck inside an alarmingly thin piece of cardboard. This thing is going to get beat up after a few years no matter how carefully you store it. Ah well, the apocalypse will claim us all pretty soon, anyway.-Full review at dvdverdict.com

shaunb-829-638027 2012-04-27 08:49:14

Humans are killing themselves by killing the Honey Bee.

Very educational and topical. The food supply of the world is highly dependent on the abilities ofthe honeybees. CCD (colony collapse disorder) remains a mystery tosome. The honeybees are dying, why?This film shows the current plight of the honeybee and (most of} theevidence toward the root cause, as well as the potential impact ofinaction by the public and government bodies.Without the honeybees we are in grave danger of killing off most of thesupply of fruits and vegetables.The flora and fauna of the globe is at risk. What will we as the "topof the food chain" do?The likely cause of the bees demise seems to be pesticides and thebuild up of toxic levels in the hives, very similar to DDT from prioryears.France seems to have realized the threat of the pesticides and bannedthem. Three years later, the honeybees are beginning to come back. Butit will be a long road as the toxic chemicals persist in the soil andare prevalent in the plants.Pesticide companies claim things are safe and tested. However, the linkbetween the release of these new products and the demise of the beescannot be ignored.Populated by actual beekeepers, researchers, and scientists, this filmhighlights the plight of the bees.The issues are real, the questions are pertinent.

2012-04-26 23:24:12

Vanishing of the Food

Small creatures are giving us a BIG warning. You may have heard about the honeybee "issue" across the news media over the last few years and not have given it too much thought. You maybe unknowingly helping in destroying food as we know it by the choices you make at the supermarket.Vanishing of the Bees shows you this global problem in a wonderfully directed, shot and paced film, that I recommend everyone watch right away! The film shows all the heart, dedication and passion of the beekeepers that are on the front line of this issue. You will care about what is going on, what needs to be done and how you and your family can help. What more can you ask for in a documentary?Yet another reason to change our food system.If films like Food, Inc., Earthlings and Forks Over Knives or books like John Robbins: The Food Revolution, Micheal Pollens: In Defense of Food and Thomas Campbells: The China Study have not changed the way you and your family consume the food you eat 3 times a day then Vanishing of the Bees maybee your opportunity we need for change.

tooldye 2012-04-26 15:36:07

Important movie

This is a comprehensive, educational and well-made documentary. Itshould be required viewing for everyone, but especially for the youngergeneration who will be inheriting this mess that is our currentagricultural culture. Without informative media like this film, manyfolks will never know about the dangers of the way most of our food isgrown and the consequences that will have, until it is too late.Ironically, the big corporations mentioned in this film do not knowthat there are more important things than money, because bees are oneof them and a thriving bee population will increase profits. See thisfilm and then vote with your fork!

2012-04-25 17:10:47

We need to do something

This is not the easiest theme but important to learn about it. A large percentage of our food security hinges upon solving this mystery. The root causes are not that mysterious though, wide use of pesticides is wrecking havoc all over the world.

2012-04-25 08:33:00

Pollination

This is a most enjoyable review of a serious problem. As a hobby Beekeeper for 26 years, I have seen the impact from parasites, pesticides and mis-management. The honeybee is a remarkable barometer of our local environment. The trends in recent years to parricides to manage mites resulted in mites resistant to those same chemicals. the idea the sub-lethal pesticides is also a cause of CCD is alarming at first, yet also promises a change if our local farming practices can adapt. Without pollination, we will lose many foods that require the honeybee to produce viable fruits and vegetables. This DVD offers many insightful cause/effect situations that are within the control of our farmers and governmental officials.

2012-04-24 19:17:59

Help Save The Bees - Start by watching this movie

If you care at all about the food you eat, you know that we need bees to produce as much as 1/3 of your daily diet. Bees are disappearing mysteriously and rapidly. "Vanishing of the Bees" investigates and supplies some of the answers that we desperately need to reform the way agriculture and our food supply is going. Highly recommended. It is beautifully shot too!

2012-04-18 03:05:41

Bad buzz...

Fascinating topic ('colony collapse disorder,' that is) but the treatment here is very, very lean on fact, statistics, empirical/historical context, etc. Rather what we have in 'Vanishing of the Bees' is semi-educated hypothesizing and heartfelt sentiment from distraught beekeepers; rambling homage from 'experts' on bee mythology; political grandstanding and finger-pointing from anti-pesticide activists and, wait! they do spend a lot of time interviewing a UC Berkeley professor, Michael Pollan, a smart-looking chap who certainly must have a degree in agriculture or botany, or perhaps zoology, er, entomology? Mmmm, no, false alarm. Mr. Pollan-- a very nice man, I'm sure-- earned his Master's in English and holds a chair in journalism at Cal. Were no actual scientists available to talk to? Why, yes-- Pennsylvania's 'Acting State Apiarist' of PSU's Entomology Department! Unfortunately, while he is crazy-casual, genial and entertaining, he seems to have more questions than answers. Two other scientists appear but speak only to the possible causal impact of pesticides on CCD (which is inconclusive at best) and not to the issue at large, which goes far beyond the implications of external chemical regulation. Finally the script, which wants to be more authoritative than its featherweight narration allows, comes across like a 'persuasive essay' I might have written for seventh-grade science class, as read by me in the fifth grade. So, overall, as documentaries go, VOTB thankfully is not sensationalistic or even particularly alarmist in tone (though the second half becomes increasingly tendentious, dropping any pretense of a balanced investigation to reveal itself as boilerplate environmentalist propaganda); it is, however, simply, frustratingly, disorganized and slight. If CCD is a subject you're interested in learning about, your time would be better spent researching it on your own. 1 1/2 stars.

2012-04-17 11:21:02

There are still plenty of bees--other than Honey Bees

I realy hate these apocalyptic films....They take one case and expand it to disaster proportions....There are still plenty of bees. And bees that polinate all of our crops....Mason bees, Squash bees, leaf cutter bees, Bumble bees, miner bees....all native be to north America. Why do we not see this? It is because they don't produce Honey..However, the native bees are 10 -100 times better polinators than the honey bees (which were introduced into North Amreica in he 1600's)..why do we not care.. becuase wild native bees cannot be manipulated by breeders like the honey bee. This is the reason were are having problems with honey bees. Not to mention the africanized problem, again caused by breeders, a while ago.This is a sappy and stuipd analysis of a problem that we created but, that will not destory the world.

la_cineaste 2012-04-16 21:08:47

Bee Conscious

As far as educational documentaries go… this one hits all the rightnotes! As a lover of narrative film with an average concern forenvironmental and social activism, this film left me moved towardsaction and well informed. The heart of the cause is relayed naturallythrough a masterful blend of science, history, and spiritualism;allowing the viewer to gather the profound importance of thedisappearance of the honeybee, without the "hard sell" of some otherpolitical and social documentaries that will go nameless. What the filmlacks in masterful camera angles and fancy editing, it makes up for tenfold in heart and well researched information. This is the firstdocumentary that I've seen that has literally changed my life… for thebetter.

2012-04-16 14:07:05

A Snoozer...

Honestly, I began watching this dvd w/ the best of intentions. A friend's hives "collapsed" just year before last - all bees vanished - so it is apropo. Sadly, there is no real concrete answer to what is happening. That aside, this film is very repetitive, going to the same people over and over to interview them and follow their story, which, once the hives 'collapse' doesn't progress much.It was a bit boring. Sorry.

jjnoahjames 2012-04-07 19:32:36

Solution to Bee Problem Solved.

Ellen Paige's voice only helps the homeland feeling of farmers tryingto bring love to the land which in turn brings food to all of us. Thestory starts with David Hackenberg an experienced American bee farmertrying to find out why all his bees are dying. From him the movietraces David's Friendly Colony of scientist and fellow farmers andtells us their stories.Vanishing was thorough and I learned a lot. What I liked most about themovie is that they take you over seas to show that the people in Franceetc. are fighting the same battle, and it's cool to see so many peoplefrom different backgrounds get together for one cause.This movie was very enjoyable. I didn't expect it to be exciting but Igot sucked in. I would have liked to see interviews with the companiesinvolved in this problem, and people pressing them. Some sort of deepemotion like that would have possibly earned this another star.

irvina-1 2012-03-31 18:46:19

Passionate & Beautiful

No matter what you know about Honeybees, this movie will give yousomething new. Most everyone now knows, at least in passing, thatHoneybees are in trouble. Our narrator in this documentary has plungedherself into this issue and brings some much needed light to thesubject. There were several areas of the film that brought brand newinformation for me and left me wanting to help our little friends, theHoneybees. The film also let me know that the issue is way more complexthan the 10 second bits you run across on the evening news. I am hopingthat this film will have a very large viewing. I am planning on buyingthe DVD to give to friends & family.