HONEYLAND – Review

HONEYLAND is a documentary but it seems more like a narrative film with its strong dramatic arc and touching story. There is no narration and no introductory text to tells us in this visually-stunning award-winner at Sundance, which gives us a moving tale a traditional beekeeper in North Macedonia.

HONEYLAND opens with a gorgeous shot of a middle-aged woman in traditional Eastern European garb, making her way across a windswept rocky landscape. The camera follows her as she climbs up the mountainside and inches along a ledge, while the wind whips her skirts around. She then stops to pry loose a rock, which reveals a wild honeybee hive. Calmly, slowly, she reaches in and pulls out honeycombs and bees, and puts them in her basket.

It is a graceful, contemplative action, and the landscape is dramatic, setting the tone for this stunning, immersive documentary. The woman is traditional beekeeper in rural North Macedonia, a vanishing tradition, a perhaps the last of her kind, although with the film does not let us know that directly. Instead, HONEYLAND tells its human story more like an epic, with such a strong dramatic pull that one has to remind oneself that it is documentary. There is no introductory text at the start to tell us who she is or where we are, and there is no voice-over. Instead it is just the fly-on-the-wall camera, strikingly beautiful photography, and a intimate tale of a human life. The story is filled with human sweep, moments of humor, and an unspoken message about cultural change and caring for the earth.

The woman, Hatidze, lives in a small stone hut with her elderly mother, who is bed-ridden, blind in one eye and a little deaf. The landscape around their home is strewn with crumbling stone walls, and looks like it was once a small village. Now, all the other houses are in ruin, and Hatidze and her mother have only a dog and a couple of cats for company.

Still, they seem content with their simple life in the hut lit by candles and a wood stove. Chatting and joking in a way that reveals their close relationship, and the daughter’s good-naturalness and basic decency shine through in her care for her feisty mother. Occasionally, the beekeeper travels to the nearby city of Skopje to sell her honey, where her traditionally garb, of headscarf, high-neck blouse, flowing skirt and heavy stockings, make her look like she stepped out of another time. She socializes with vendors at the market, and does a little shopping. Hatidze is no beauty but we learn through conversations with her mother she once had other ambitions for her life. Her gentle personality, devoted care for her mother, and her unfailing politeness make her shine, winning out hearts.

At first, it looks as if the documentary will continue in this quiet fashion. But then neighbors arrive, and the quiet changes to chaos. Arriving in a mobile home, a couple move in across the street, with lots of noisy children, chickens, and a herd of cattle, none of which they seem to know how to manage. The father, Hussein, may be well-meaning but he is clearly in over his head, and has a tendency to blame others around him for his mistakes, particularly the children. The beekeeper and her mother are wary at first but since the newcomers speak the same Turkic language they are hopeful. Soon the children come over, and then the parents cone to visit. Gentle, good-natured Hatidze seems to enjoy the company, particularly the children, with whom she plays sweetly.

But the neighborly warmth doesn’t last, things grow tense when Hussein starts doing things that endanger Hatidze’s bees, ignoring Hatidze’s gentle helpful advice and then her complaints. There is tension and conflict, and the story takes unexpected twists as the two families try to figure out if they can indeed be neighbors.

The human drama on the screen is remarkable, all the more so because this is real life unfolding before our eyes. In the process, our admiration grows for Hatidze’s basic character, her resilience, warmth, and even a natural nobility. HONEYLAND is a documentary that is beautifully filmed, has a moving human story and unforgettable people, as well as something important to say about the value of traditional sustainable practices.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars