DVD Review – City of the Bees

They don’t make ’em like this anymore! City of the Bees is a Moody Science Classic that was first released in 1962, quite a long while before my time. A half-hour presentation on – you guessed it – bees, it includes everything we’d expect to find in a Moody video produced in the 60’s – cutting-edge video work (that is still impressive even by today’s standards), a significant explanation of how the video applies to the life of the viewer, and a cheap-shot at the Commies.

Through this short presentation you’ll learn how bees live and work. You’ll learn about their division of labor, their methods of communication (I’m now fluent in “bee”) and how they police and even air condition themselves. Just the other day I was talking to a nurse while she was collecting some of my blood and she wondered aloud who had invented air conditioning. I was able to tell her, like the geek I am, that what we consider a wonderful human invention it instinctual to bees. I explained how they bring moisture into their hives and then fan it with their wings, condensing it and causing cooling. Meanwhile other bees fan cool air from outside into the hives while a third group stands at the opposite direction, venting the warm air to the outside. She nodded and smiled and pretended to be interested. Then she changed the subject.

As the cover for the video promises, you will also “find out why God’s design for human relationships is vastly different from His system for bees.” This is a lesson the Reds learned the hard way, as their system of government, modelled more on the laws of nature than the laws of God, cannot be sustained among humans. The harsh law of the hive, which requires members to work themselves to death and leaves no place for the old, sick and unproductive, may work for animals, but is far from God’s directive for those made in His image.

A great little video that will awe and inspire even today, City of the Bees is well worth the half-hour investment in time. I enjoyed it and look forward to watching other presentations from deep inside the archives of Moody Science.