Culture

Director: Taggart Siegel, (3.5/5).
One of the hardest things to do with documentary filmmaking is find the perfect “talent”. Talent in a documentary is the person or people who represent the face of the film, building the story with their dialogue, and, importantly, creating an emotional attachment. Queen of the Sun is a marvelous, beautiful film that suffers, slightly, from some interesting talent choices.

The tale of the movie is that man’s choices with pesticides and farming practices are not being kind to the bee. It is believed that the pesticides we apply so liberally, combined with genetically modified crops, are killing the bees, causing colony collapse disease (CCD), a disastrous occurrence whereby bees simply disappear from a hive. The documentary is centred on this and is basically telling us that if we don’t get our act together all the bees will be gone - followed closely by us. This film tells the story with beautiful footage and cinematography and you certainly feel a strong sense of responsibility for CCD.
 
However, having a topless French yogi rub his moustache on a bunch of bees saying that “zay loov zizz” is a little strange. This guy was just one of many somewhat marginal characters in the film, the majority bordering on being “crazy hippies”. There is nothing wrong with being a crazy hippy but in terms of a film appearances I think that the directors are risking alienating their audience by having some French yogi rub his moustache on a hapless bee. As a Kiwi, I felt a little cringe creep down my spine when the New Zealand beekeeper in the movie gets out of his ute and baas at a bunch of sheep before having his words, in English, subtitled.

Overall, the movie was great. The message is such a strong one that you can’t help but feel that familiar Western guilt when you watch it and realise the Coke Zero you’re sucking down probably killed a bunch of bees. Funky animation, interesting music and a big issue make the film a “must see”, or at least a definite “should see”. Be warned though, you run the risk of being sucked into an addictive world of bulky white suits, smoke guns, and honey-soaked moustaches.