Des insectes et des hommes

For 10 plus years, "The Hellstrom Chronicle" was regularly plugged into the 2am/4am movie slot on a local station in the middle 80's through 90's. Too bad it couldn't get more coverage, because this is how a documentary should be made.

The problem with documentaries is if you focus too much on the clinical data, it becomes dry. If yo try to interject drama into it, you run the risk of sending up the piece, into parody or even farce. Hellstrom interjects just the right amount of fiction, in the form of Lawrence Pressman, that links the documentary portions at a pace that keeps it from losing one's interest. It's obvious that "Dr." Hellstrom, a fictitious entomologist, is paranoid that insects will take over the world through their superiority over men. The most interesting thing, though, is he may very well be right! If the insect world footage has any say in how future matters may turn out, it will.

Of particular interest is the portion of the footage devoted to the driver ants. As has been quoted in other reviews, this is a prime example of "How DID they film that?!" documentary in motion. It's an inspiration out of "Leinengen Vs. The Ants," only it's real!

If you can find this "movie," give it a roll. Expand your mind a bit with some facts, while at the same time, become entertained by Dr. Hellstrom... even if he isn't a real doctor, but, he plays one on TV! (Actually, he did! Pressman went on to play one on Doogie Howser, M.D.)

One of the best documentaries ever to come to the screen "The Hallstrom Chronicle" is not only educational about the insect world but visually stunning with its eye popping microscopic and telescopic photography showing the viewer a world that for the most part he or she are almost totally unaware of.

Were introduced to Prof. Niles Hellstrom, Lawrence Pressman, who's study of the insect world has had him become greatly alarmed in that the final battle of mankind would not be among itself in an Armageddon like nuclear holocaust but in a life and death confrontation with the what seems like indestructible insect! The insects who've been around for some 300 million years are the only creatures on earth who can give man a run for his money living space and food supply. In fact besides man the insect is the only species on earth who's population has increased instead of diminished over the last two or three centuries! with the insects now threatening the worlds food supply,like it did since Biblical times, and killing far more people, with insect borne diseases, then all the wars of mankind put together it's only a matter of time according to Prof. Hellstrom before man not insect will disappear off the face of the earth! That's unless man learns to live within his environment and not end up killing himself in wars pollution and nuclear radiation which the insect has over the centuries, unlike man, became completely immune to!

A film not to be taken lightly "The Hellstrom Chronicle" is just as effective now as it was back in 1971 when it was released in showing that man is not in control of his own destiny but he for either good or bad has to work within the world he lives in and the life forms he share it with in oder to survive. The insect world is by far the biggest threat to mans survival and the sooner man realizes that the better chance he has to survive in the future.

The fact that insects have shown that they can survive and even increase despite everything that man throws at them, like DDT and other insecticides, should tells us something. They unlike man have only one thought, if thats what you can call it, in mind survival of the species! Something that man in his greed and arrogance has yet to learn in his obsession of destroying himself in both wars and polluting the world that he lives in. The insect world seems to have no problem or worries in its future existence. It's been around for hundreds of millions of years and will continue to be around for countless more long after man like the dinosaurs have disappeared and been forgotten off the pages of history.

Be wary and skeptical towards reviews that put too much focus on "The Hellstrom Chronicles" being fictional and a pseudo-documentary. Although most people acknowledge how great and visually stunning it is, they seem to think the "fake" aspects are much more important to write about.

What's so fake about it, I ask? Okay, the narrating scientist - Swedish Ph. D. Nils Hellstrom - doesn't exist, and thus didn't do all the entomologic research he so convincingly proclaims he did. Other entomologists did, though, because all these staggering insights and dazzling particularities we learn about the insect world are factual and captured in the tiniest detail. Lawrence Pressman is an actor, so "The Hellstrom Chronicle is fake. So if, say, David Attenborough or James Earl Jones had done the voiceover instead, it would have been okay?

Before watching the film (on a big cinema screen, which was awesome!) and based on its reputation, I was led to believe "The Hellstrom Chronicle" would spawn grotesque theories around conspiring against all other life-forms, human in particular, or gradually metamorphosing into indestructible monsters. It does nothing of that sort. Hellstrom merely demonstrates, meticulously, that insects are much better equipped and emotionally immune enough to survive and quickly repopulate after whatever type of potential apocalypse overcomes the world. This is not only correct, but also plausible and even probably. And the documentary doesn't even biblically state this will happen tomorrow or in a hundred years, just in the even of. Quite obviously, the tone of the narration and some of the footage is heavily dramatized, but can you honestly blame the producers for inserting a bit of sensationalism? After all, the early 70s was the era of flamboyant ecological horror and dystopian Sci-Fi cinema.

In 1972, "The Hellstrom Chronicle" won the Academy Award in the category of best documentary. I, for one, think this is more than deserved! Apart from the fascinating subject matter, it's also a supreme work of craftmanship. The film is more than half a century old now, but the cinematography and the editorial/technical knowhow have barely aged. I don't watch many documentaries, but this one can still easily compete with all the widely acclaimed stuff National Geographic and the BBC are producing these days. The voiceover monologues are almost like poetry or advanced literature to listen to; - full of superlatives and a wide range of synonyms. And, last but not least, even as a diehard horror fanatic, I occasionally squirmed in my seat when beholding close-up footage of - for example - the Black Widow destroying her mating partner, or a massive colony of legionary ants devouring an adult Komodo lizard!

In short - and apologies for the lengthy review - "The Hellstrom Chronicle" is an absolute must-see!

I may be biased for this movie, but I love it and loved it as a child. I was completely into insects as a kid, so this movie didn't scare me. To the contrary I was probably exited by the possibility of a world ruled by insects. I guess I assumed they would let me hang around or something!

The movie is still great today, a quasi- documentary of the ways and purposes of insects and how they blindly and without hesitation follow that purpose even to the death.. Very well played by 'Dr. Hellstrom' and beautifully filmed, it stands the test of time very well with this viewer. I just watched it today.

The Hellstrom Chronicle is a documentary about insects wrapped within a fiction. Visually it's incredibly stunning, very similar to Microcosmos in its "how did they get that shot?" camerawork. The film is narrated by a fictional scientist who claims that the final two lifeforms on earth will be man and insect, and when they face off man will lose. This places a very ominous slant on the action, and instead of Microcosmos's wonderment at nature we are treated with Hellstrom's dire dissertation on the various advantages insects have over humans. The voiceovers are hilariously over the top, and the musical accompaniment is splendid in its portent of doom. The movie does tip its hand with an obviously set up hidden camera segment 3/4 of the way through, though the knowledge that Hellstrom is a fiction doesn't diminish the drama. By the end I actually appreciated the kooky construction, which gave the filmmakers a rationalization to deal with some of the harsher aspects of insect life.