To stir the beehive?

Beekeeper (2023)
Director: David Ayer

Bees can teach us a thing or two about Nature. It is mind-boggling that something as small as this arthropod can have a complex, organised, self-sustaining community. Imagine all the structured living, with specialisation, hierarchical order, layered and combatant defence, and continuity with progeny happening in immaculate order, all in one colony. They do all these without a functioning brain but groping around using pheromones as their guide.

Everybody has a job to do, no matter how trivial or low down the food chain, and they have to play their roles elegantly.

In the eye of a modern man, the whole setup may reek of a Kafkaian dystopia. A communist regime, allegedly after a collective politburo discussion, what is best for the plebeians who follow blindly for the progress of the Motherland, may not be everyone's cup of tea. A Hindu-bashing leftist may remind us this is how the caste system works, that one is born into a caste and, hence, his profession. We know now that this is all bunkum. The four castes mentioned denote a person's aptitude, not profession. But hey, the leftists are too brainwashed to comprehend that.

Perhaps bees tell us that we should be sincere in performing our assigned duties as if it is the last thing in the world. Hell hath no fury a hornet nest provoked.

In the late 1960s, Americans woke up to a quiet spring. No bugs in the garden or birds flying in the sunny sky. People remembered that just a year previously, DDT was introduced as an effective way to combat malaria, typhus, and other insect-borne diseases. With time, the world has realised that every God's creation has its role in our delicate ecosystem.

Fast-forward to the 21st century. After mindlessly slashing their jungles and hunting animals to extinction, Europeans had a revelation. They realised that their population of wild wolves was dwindling critically. The corresponding effect is the burgeoning number of deer. Deer entered their highways and their households.

The new buzzword 'Rewilding' was thrown in. It involved a push to repopulate the wolf population in the wild. It is hoped that this would balance years of apathy. It is assumed that wolves would instantaneously start killing deer again, and equilibrium would be achieved again. Alas, they overlooked that now, thousands and thousands of sheep are reared on an industrial scale. If jumping on a helpless sheep is more effortless, why would the wolf struggle to hunt down a deer with antlers and all? Equilibrium takes years of work, and it cannot be forced.

By the way, this film has nothing to do with the write-up above. One of my favourite action heroes, Jason Stathon, acts in this B-grade movie, which showcases Statham as an unassuming retired commando who finds peace tending to his bees. When the only person who speaks to him commits suicide after a scam, the Beekeeper goes ballistic. Like a fighter bee, he blasts all barrels to hunt down the scammers.

[P.S. Our world is so polluted and damaged that the bee population is declining exponentially. To trigger pollination, beehives are rented out to farms and orchards. Much like Tinder or Shaadi.com, dating services hook up eligible or assumed bachelors to spur meet-ups, hopefully, meaningful copulation and continuity of progeny.]

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