Film Reviews

Colony

• Rating:
• Director: Ross McDonnell, Carter Gunn.
• Starring: Various beekeepers of America.
• Details: Ireland / 88mins (PG).

The series of successful Irish documentaries continues with Colony, a journey into the day-to-day toiling of your average beekeeper. Where as other documentaries explored Irish life and figures, Colony moves stateside to tackle a global phenomenon. It might start out like 101 Things You Probably Already Know About Bees (the documentary informs us that there are over 30,000 books and articles on bees), but debut directors Gunn and McDonnell explore the comparisons between their subject and the human race before moving on to the personal story of the beekeepers plight circa the 2008 Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). That year saw billions of bees mysteriously disappear, which not only affects the beekeepers' honey income, it also affects the pollination of crops. Colony focuses on one family in particular - the God-fearing Leppi family - and their struggle. The Leppis are bee fanatics - not only are they dependent on them for their livelihood, they just love everything about them. This family really cares. Their father might make do with his teaching job, but sons Lance and Victor are setting up their business just as others are getting out and their colonies are their sole income. Colony's examination of the familiarities between the matriarchal society of the bee, where the queen rules the roost, and the Leppi household, where a headstrong mother calls the shots. If humans were to "adopt a social society like the bee," one interview tells us, "it would be utterly ruthless." Judging Mrs. Leppi's treatment of Lance (she berates him for his lack of business acumen and barges in on his negotiations with contractors and he's too polite to tell her to back off) that statement isn't far wrong. There are also associations drawn between the recession and the CCD too. But Gunn and McDonnell wisely keep these parallels in the background, choosing instead to go for the human story. Lance may be young, but he has a mature head on his shoulders, speaking openly about his hopes and fears. Victor, granted only a handful of lines, prefers to let his older brother do the talking. The openness of the interviewees doesn’t extend only to the beekeepers, but also Bayer representatives, the pesticide company whose door the blame for the disappearance of the bees is laid at. Colony is a never less than interesting documentary and Gunn and McDonnell chose their subjects well.

Review by Gavin Burke