Honeyland (2019)
…………………………………………………
Honeyland Movie Review
Honeyland is a 2019 North Macedonian documentary film directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov and starring Hatidze Muratova as herself. It’s a wonderful film.
A woman utilizes ancient beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of Macedonia. When a neighboring family tries to do the same, it becomes a source of tension as they disregard her wisdom and advice. It may be obscure for many to watch a Macedonian documentary movie about beekeeping, but the movie is more universal in its approach as it touches upon climate change in a very urgent manner.
………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………..
But it’s a meticulous film that follows this remarkable woman and her rare profession so well through many very interesting details of her job, and we get a very fascinating glimpse into the overall life in a rural village in Macedonia. Following this beekeeping job was interesting, but also the cattle, the neighbors and in particular the kids and their helping with the farm work.
Hatidze Muratova is the heart and soul of the film, especially her scenes with her family are very touching. By focusing so heavily on her, the film thus becomes quite intimate which I really liked, and those were the best parts for sure.
But the third act where they tried to stray away a bit from her and introduce more people felt not as well realized. Overall, the film is not as well structured, and particularly its slow pace bothered me as it was never as involving as it could have been had it been a bit better edited and more engagingly approached. However, I did love the ending itself with the last shot being so wonderful.
………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………..
But the cinematography is fantastic, especially some very great long takes that focus on natural landscapes. Honeyland is filmed in such a way that you become an observer, and never at all does it feel that it was filmed, but that the cinematographer is invisible which is the best praise you can give to this particular area of work. I also really liked the various conversations here, and especially how the film felt authentic in its subject matter and the people that it focuses on.
Honeyland offers an intimate, meticulous look into the beekeeping tradition in Macedonia through many very interesting scenes, and even some heartwarming ones. It’s slower in pace, but phenomenally shot throughout, very well directed and feeling entirely authentic in its subject matter.
