More Than Honey (2013)

This is a Swiss 90-minute documentary from 3 years ago and it deals from start to finish with honey farmers and the increasing problems in their profession. A lot of it has to do with the unexpected mass mortality of bees these days, for which there is no explanation. That is basically all there is to this documentary. If you are interested in bees, give it a watch, if not then stay away. There is nothing groundbreaking to see here really, but it's a solid, informative piece of filmmaking from start to finish. The writer and director is Markus Imhoof and he's been making movies since the 1970s already. He is way into his 70s now and maybe he retired after this documentary. At least he hasn't done any new films in the last 3 years and there is also nothing under the upcoming section of his body of work. "More than Honey" is actually more famous than I would have expected, because the topic is, in fact, really specific and I am fairly surprised this documentary reached such a great audience. Maybe this also has to do with the awards recognition they managed to get. It won Best Documentary for example at the German Film Awards and it got the honor to be Switzerland's official submission for the Acadmey Awards' foreign language category. Admittedly, a large part of the film is in English though. They follow bee farmers at several locations all around the world and one of them is the United States. So you will need no subtitles for this if you are a native English speaker. But you will for the rest. And even German speakers will need subtitles and not only for the English parts, also for the Swiss German segments as the old Swiss guy with the heavy beard speaks such a distinct version of Schwitzerdütsch that you will have no chance to understand what he is saying without subtitles. That's pretty much it. It's a decent documentary and all in all I recommend it.

What an excellent documentary!!! The cinematography is breath taking and you are able to see bees up close like you've never been able to before. This documentary does an amazing job at exploring the reasons why bees are so important for us. The beekeeping process is fascinating, it shows a small family of beekeepers and the industrialized honey farms! This beautiful film shows the relationship between us and honeybees and makes you want to save them all ! I was on the official website earlier (www.morethanhoneyfilm.com) and it's definitely worth it, they have great pictures to look at :) totally check it out!! you will not regret it, it teaches you a lot!

This may sound excessively hyperbolic, but I'm actually pretty shameless when I say that "More Than Honey" is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. Every good documentary's events are framed in some narrative form and "Honey" does not disappoint; the film deftly contrasts the bee farming practices of both American and European farmers. Director Markus Imhoof really managed to get some fantastic, heartfelt interviews from all sides of this issue. While the film certainly identifies potential causes as to why the bees are disappearing, it wisely refrains from ever vilifying them."More Than Honey" also works surprisingly well as a nature documentary, which I attribute entirely to its fantastic cinematography. The macro-photography ventures all the way inside bee hives to show them in their nature habitat, and really breathes excitement into some of the films slower parts. The narration is helpful and informative, allowing even a casual viewer to learn a thing or two about bees along the way. As Eric Kohn from Indiewire puts it: ""Makes a convincing argument for the role of bees sustaining both organic and industrial concerns…(an) effective melding of science and aesthetic delights." 10/10 stars.

This movie is like honey to your visual senses. With picturesque Switzerland in the background, it is shown how bees were kept in the past. And how nowadays massive commercial beekeeping takes place in North America. Like a traveling circus, the bees are shipped from one place to the next to pollinate flowers of various fruits and nuts with total disrespect. You can't help pity the poor creatures, as their owners can only think of money, and have no love.This movie is a cinematographic masterpiece that tells you about the crises the bees are currently in. Colonies collapse without a clear reason. Like with the bio-industry, it makes you think that this is not the way to treat other animals, even if they are insects. Colony collapse? I think it's just the bees way of going on strike.