To be perfectly clear: insects are not bad. They have no moral or ethical guidelines. They cannot act maliciously. Certainly, they cannot commit murder. That said, there is a reason why the giant Asian evening was nicknamed “murderous evening” in the American press and not, for example, “gentle sweet bee.” These apex predators appear to have flown since the Carboniferous era. They can slaughter bee colonies in a matter of hours, tearing the torsos of small pollinators in half. Its poison causes burning pain in humans and, at worst, death. And when they were discovered in Washington state last spring, the invasion sounded downright demonic. It is fitting, then, that the new film by director Michael Paul Stephenson Assassination of the Hornets Assassination it plays like a spooky true crime tale.
The documentary, which is currently airing on Discovery +, opens with a spectacular carnage. A kind beekeeper named Ted McFall offers a horrible look at what happened to his beehives when vespers showed up at his bee farm in Whatcom County, Washington: Massacre. McFall drowns talking about unexpected deaths. As a professional beekeeper who makes a living selling products such as honey and beeswax, the appearance of the Asian giant evening on his property was an existential threat and he could not stop losing the bees personally. Assassination of the Hornets Assassination follows McFall as he joins a loose alliance of beekeepers and scientists from the Pacific Northwest who hunt the nests of these invasive insects, which compete to remove them from the local ecosystem before they wreak havoc.
Another member of this mission is Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney, a dedicated scientist and broadcaster who walks through the woods with a net, while still caring about the nature of the your search. Although the team sets traps, its advancement comes from some high-tech equipment: robotist Vikram Iyer realizes that tracking devices created for robotic flies can also work if they stick in the Asian giant evening, so the gang begins capturing individual evenings and sticking trackers to the abdomen until it finally leads them back to the nest. Although they face a number of barriers, Stephenson’s subjects are able to capture a large portion of the evenings, including many specimens of young queens, which would have spread the problem throughout the region if they had grown up and created their own. nius. Science doesn’t totally save the day, but it avoids disaster.
Stephenson’s documentary moves quickly into a thriller and is so immersed in the squad of ad hoc homicide scooter detectives that people speak to him sincerely. He captures his chase from an intimate point of view, capturing quiet moments like a local boy crying at the sight of an evening whose wings have been accidentally hooked in an attempt to fix the tracking robot. And it’s an exciting and engaging group – all out of the woods guided by altruistic hopes for science or the zeal of a true crusader. (“If we can’t get rid of this murderous evening, God help us all,” McFall says.) The story is a compelling ecological race against time, with real bets: when honey bees are in danger , the entire food chain is also at risk.
With so much drama, atmosphere and character incorporated, Assassination of the Hornets Assassination he didn’t need to lean on his natural doc-as-crime-doc trick with his nefarious soundtrack and horror movie graphics. Most of the scientists interviewed are careful to point out that insects are not to blame for following their instinct. (McCall, however, regrets not being able to slaughter himself each and every evening). Beekeeper Conrad Berube, who eradicated the first nest discovered in North America, is brought in to help with the mission; although it favors bee-embroidered vests and is clearly reverent towards insects, it is called the “trigger man” as it has experience in destroying these habitats. However, he does not maintain any animus towards the evenings that he feels compelled to destroy. “Look how beautiful she is,” she says when she sees a queen. “There is a certain discomfort in participating in its eradication.” He explains that it helps kill creatures just to protect the ecosystem.