2019’s Honeyland, directed
by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov.
Starring Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam, and
Ljutvie Sam.
What is it about?
Honeyland is a
documentary set in present day Bekirlija, Northern Macedonia. Based
around the life of Hatidze Muratova, the camera crew followed her around for 3
years to tell her story. Hatidze lives a humble and isolated life, beekeeping
and taking care of her ill mother, and has to contend with a family of
neighbours moving in who threaten to imbalance an already precarious eco system.
Why is it worth seeing?
Completely devoid of narration and exposition, directors
Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov depict their subject of Hatidze, a human
of complete naturalness, oblivious to the Hawthorne Effect. She makes an ideal
fit for the setting of her hardscrabble village, nestled in the remote
mountains, far from luxuries such as technology, electricity, and plumbing. We
learn a great deal about her life, its rhythms and energies, and her contentment.
It is just such a treat to spend time with someone who lives a life
unimaginably different than yours- and they couldn’t be happier. Climbing
mountains to find beehives to migrate back to her camp, caring for her invalid
mother, or chatting with city locals to sell them honey, she’s a saint-like,
but realistic person, worthy of spending precious time with.
Central protagonist established, Honeyland’s additional charms lie in its depiction of its natural setting, bringing an unusually cinematic quality to the typically static documentary genre. It has a hushed sense of intimacy that romanticizes a way of life that would appear brutal to anyone who considers not clutching a smart phone all day as the equivalent of torture. But Hatidze doesn’t seem to mind- she’s too busy existing without complaint.
Complicating Hatidze’s garden of Eden, is the arrival of a Turkish family, composed of a husband, wife, and 5 children. Migrant farmers, their crops of choice are chaos and disorganization, testing Muratova to the breaking point. Setting up parallels with colonialism, she couldn’t be more helpful in guiding and helping the family to survive- and is rewarded with mistrust and the potential decimation of her livelihood. Greed, short sightedness, callous indifference, all combine into an inability to learn from their mistakes. While the choice to depict the family as showing up during the film is editorialized (the family was actually there when the production began), they make tragically human foils, particularly when some of the children mistrust their parents’ lack of competence and bond to Muratova instead.
Central protagonist established, Honeyland’s additional charms lie in its depiction of its natural setting, bringing an unusually cinematic quality to the typically static documentary genre. It has a hushed sense of intimacy that romanticizes a way of life that would appear brutal to anyone who considers not clutching a smart phone all day as the equivalent of torture. But Hatidze doesn’t seem to mind- she’s too busy existing without complaint.
Complicating Hatidze’s garden of Eden, is the arrival of a Turkish family, composed of a husband, wife, and 5 children. Migrant farmers, their crops of choice are chaos and disorganization, testing Muratova to the breaking point. Setting up parallels with colonialism, she couldn’t be more helpful in guiding and helping the family to survive- and is rewarded with mistrust and the potential decimation of her livelihood. Greed, short sightedness, callous indifference, all combine into an inability to learn from their mistakes. While the choice to depict the family as showing up during the film is editorialized (the family was actually there when the production began), they make tragically human foils, particularly when some of the children mistrust their parents’ lack of competence and bond to Muratova instead.
People come, people go. Honeyland understands this better than most, while granting the gift of spending time with some of those people in a wonderfully organic setting. Packed in a part of the world that definitely doesn’t see any tourists, it doesn’t explain anything to us- it shows. It’s the bees knees.
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