HONEYLAND

Macedonia, 2019, 85 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov.

Macedonia is probably not on the beaten track of many travellers around Europe. Here is an opportunity for a visit, mainly to the striking and sometimes barren countryside, an excursion into the city of Skopje, looking modern, avenues, shops…

This terrain is not exactly what one might immediately identify as Honey land. Yet, the background of this story is the production of honey, the work of a peasant woman in her mid-50s who stays at home looking after her enfeebled 85-year-old mother.

This is a film with the main appeal to those who love documentaries. It has won many awards and was Oscar-nominated not only for Best Documentary but also for Best International Film.

On the one hand, there are scenes of Hatidze, the honey producer, in the mountains, discovering hives in the Cliff rocks, cultivating them, at home with the bees. But, there are even more scenes of her at home, single with no children, tending her mother, feeding her, washing her, rousing on her at times but continually devoted to her. While the mother is alert, she has memory lapses at times and gets confused. The continued dedication of daughter to mother is moving and admirable.

As the story goes on, we see much more of Haditze. She is comfortable bargaining with the honey sellers in the city. And she buys some hair dye, wanting to look nice – although her facial bone outlines look rugged, she has had no dental help, generally appearing as stern.

However, a family turn up in a caravan, driving cows – which provides a striking scene of a calf being born, one of the children almost drowning, all kinds of domestic sequences and farm sequences, the mother exasperated and firmly believing in capital punishment for unruly children. Yet, Haditze befriends them all, shows a delightful maternal side in playing with the children.

But, the father of the family, is an opportunist, listening to all the discussions about the honey, the production of the honey, the high quality, the income. He tries to do a deal with Haditze agreeable but, with the help of his family and some associates, he takes over the whole honey producing business. And Haditze’s mother dies.

So, there is a certain moroseness about the story, the effect on Haditze, losing her business, the family moving on, alone in the mountains.

While there will be a certain appeal to beekeepers, this is really a story of a culture that is unfamiliar to most audiences, an interesting example of ethnographic documentaries.