To be perfect clear: insects are not bad. They have no moral or ethical principles. I can’t act badly. I certainly can’t commit murder. That being said, there is a reason why the Asian cheetah has been dubbed the “murder hunt” in the North American press and not, say, “soft white.” These top predators look as if they have flown from the Carboniferous era. They can slaughter bee colonies in a few hours, breaking the torso of small pollinators in half. Their venom causes burning pain in humans at best and death at worst. And when they were discovered in Washington last spring, the invasion sounded demonic. It then fits the new film by director Michael Paul Stephenson Hornets kill attack it plays like a scary story of real crime.
The documentary, currently on Discovery +, opens with a spectacular show. A kind beekeeper named Ted McFall offers a terrifying look at what happened to his beehives when wasps appeared on his beekeeping farm in Whatcom County, Washington: wholesale slaughter. McFall drowned talking about the unexpected death. As a professional beekeeper who earns his living by selling products such as honey and beeswax, the appearance of the giant Asian wasp on his property was an existential threat and he could not help but personally lose his bees. Hornets kill attack he follows McFall as he joins a free alliance of beekeepers and scientists in the Pacific Northwest, who hunt the nests of these invasive insects, running to get them out of the local ecosystem before they wreak havoc.
Another member of this mission is Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney, a dedicated, bypassing scientist who travels through the woods with a net, unafraid of the long nature of his search. Although the team sets traps, their discovery comes from a bit of high-tech equipment: robot Vikram Iyer realizes that tracking devices created for robotic flies could work even if they are attached to the giant Asian wasp, so the tape begins to capture individual wasps and sticking their followers to the abdomen until one finally leads them to the nest. Although they face a number of obstacles, Stephenson’s subjects are able to capture a large part of the wasps, including many young queen specimens, which would have spread the problem throughout the region if they had grown and started their own nests. Science does not completely save the day, but it prevents disaster.
Stephenson’s documentary moves in a quick moment of a thriller and is so immersed in the team of ad hoc detectives who spoke sincerely. He captures their pursuit from an intimate view, gathering quiet moments, like a local child crying at the sight of a wasp whose wings were accidentally glued together, in an attempt to attach the tracking robot. And it is an exciting, captivating group: everyone in the forest is guided either by altruistic hopes for science or by the zeal of a true crusade. (“If we can’t get rid of this murderous wasp, God help us all,” says McFall.) The story is a compelling ecological race against time, with real stakes: when bees are in danger, the entire food chain is also , the risk.
With so much built-in drama, ambiance and character, Hornets kill attack he didn’t have to rely on his doc-like-murder-doc trick, as loud as he did, with the awful soundtrack and horror movie graphics. Most of the scientists interviewed are careful to note that the insects themselves are not to blame because they followed their instincts. (However, McCall laments that he cannot decapitate each hornet himself.) Beekeeper Conrad Berube, who eradicated the first nest discovered in North America, is brought in to help with the mission; although he is in favor of vests embroidered with bees and is clearly revered for insects, he is called the “trigger man” because he has experience in destroying these habitats. However, he does not hold any animus to the wasps he feels compelled to destroy. “Look how beautiful she is,” he says when he sees a queen. “There is a certain pain in being involved in eradicating it.” He explains that it helps kill creatures just to protect the ecosystem.