By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Ljubomir Stefanov | Tamara Kotevska
Country: macedonia
Year: 2019
Running time: 87
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8991268/reference
Michael says: “HONEYLAND was a remarkable documentary; I think it was my top film of the festival. Remarkably shot, incredibly edits, a real gem of a story that was somehow gifted to the filmmaker, HONEYLAND also illuminates a culture I knew very little about and beautifully documented an indomitable spirit and her everyday struggle to survive. Hatidze Muratova is the last of the traditional beekeepers in Macedonia, at least that what we presume. Thie purely observational documentary by skilled filmmakers Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov lets us come to our own conclusions based on what we see. Sure the film may be lacking a little context, but it more than makes up for that with the delicate, heartbreaking tale it spins, and how it uses the bees to underscore the importance of community, and how precarious a balance we are currently existing upon.
“Muratova lives a solitary life, a nomadic beakeeper who is locked into place by the inability of her half-blind grandmother, in her 80’s, to travel. She is a weathered, optimistic woman in her 50’s who understands the old ways, can survive and take care of her grandmother, alone in an abandoned village, and still have the canny skills to sell her honey at the nearby market in order to purchase what they need to survive and still have a little left over for some hair dye to color the hair we rare see as it is usually tucked up under her head scarf.
“The filmmakers lived for three years on the lot next door to Muratova, and surely the arrival of an itinerant family, a man, his wife and their seven children, was a bit of storytelling karma that turned a major plot twist, but also beautifully, if horrifically portrayed the stark difference between community and industrialization. Despite the disruption the Sam family creates, at first, Muratova welcomes the distraction, playing with the younger children and working with the patriarch, Hussein, on her beekeeping ways. repeatedly reminding him to only take half of the honey, and leaving half for the bees so they continue to produce. But with 9 mouths to feed, and financial resources being hard to come by Hussein becomes the villain of the piece, even as he does his best to provide for his family.
“To say HONEYLAND doesn’t have a happy ending is a bit of an understatement, but it’s also life, and it’s what Muratova must deal with. And if nothing else, HONEYLAND has shown us the resiliency and strength-of-will Muratova possesses, so we know that she will keep going no matter the setbacks she faces.”
Chris says: “A middle-aged beekeeper in rural North Macedonia is this documentary’s subject; when not looking after her sick, elderly mother or having to deal with new, disruptive neighbors, she goes about her craft as someone would have centuries ago. What she does would seem ritualistic and sacred if it weren’t also so simple and commonplace. HONEYLAND is visually stunning for sure, but also frankly astonishing for the access the subject gives the filmmakers; in turn, the naturalism the film achieves (people onscreen rarely acknowledge or even seem aware of the camera) is also rare. 4.5 cats“
Honeyland