Honeyland Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
If you love documentaries that stray into the fictional or very real docu-dramas, you’re in for a treat. Honeyland is one step up: it’s a docu-epic. It follows a middle-aged bee keeper in rural North Macedonia living on her own with her frail grandmother. Their survival is delicately in the balance when a large family join them looking for a better life. It’s a tale of modernity vs. tradition, and greed vs. modernity: a real showdown for the ages. Plus it’s shot beautifully.
From: North Macedonia, Europe
Watch: Now Showing in the U.S, Screening Times Elsewhere
Next: Makala, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Nobody Knows
The Breakdown
Honeyland starts with a woman (Haditze) hiking across beautiful open landscapes and up rocky ridges to a location even more remote than the deserted village she comes from. She’s tracked by drone and GoPro cameras, which gives you a mix of distant and close up shots which make it feel a bit like an extreme sports film. She stops at the top of a rocky outcrop and starts to dig into the rocks to find a bee hive full of bees and honey. This is her lifeblood.
After her journey back, we meet the only other resident of the deserted village she lives in: her mum. She’s a frail old lady who isn’t even fit to leave the dark hut they live in. As a result, Haditze does everything she can to take care of her. She finds food for them, she travels to the city to make money, and takes care of her horrifying facial wound. This is her life.
However, things change when company arrives. Initially, Haditze is excited. The big family that arrives gives her another 10 people she can talk to. Plus, they’re Turkish, just like her and her mother, so they should get along. However, after a period of happiness between her and her new neighbours, things turn sour. The patriarch of the big new family hears how much Haditze earns from her bees and sees dollar signs. His need/lust for money doesn’t respect anyone but money itself.
The Ominous Signs of Modernity
Haditze’s life was by no means perfect before her neighbours arrived (she lives in the middle of nowhere with only her frail old mother for company). However, despite that, she does have her independence, as well as a steady source of food and income to get by.
However, this all changes after her neighbours arrive. They have better tools than her, and access to ready made bee hives to try and maximize the honey output. However, despite their efforts to make more money, the new family soon realises that the land which they share with Haditze isn’t fit to sustain their huge family (there’s around 8-10 kids). As a result, they start to infringe upon Haditze’s livelihood to try and pay their bills. It’s a scenario of unsustainable growth that can only end in disaster.
While all the drama unfolds, the director continually shows shots of planes flying overhead, followed by their vapor trails. The planes are symbols of modernity and the vapor trails are a symbols of the costs of modernity – it’s wanton destruction of the balance of life that has existed for many years.
What to Watch Next
If you enjoyed the beautiful shots of Honeyland and watching the struggle for survival, check out Makala. It features a young charcoal maker from rural DRC from finding a tree to making the charcoal and journeying to sell it in the city. It’s one of the most beautifully shot films I’ve seen.
Or if you want to see another documentary about a forgotten community, watch Hale County This Morning, This Evening to meet the neighborhood in Hale County, Alabama.
For a fictional film that features similarly intimate family dynamics featuring kids and elderly people, check out Shoplifters and the heartbreaking Nobody Knows by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Both will stay with you for a long time.
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