Honeyland a must-see miracle documentary
True lovers of documentaries must make tracks for Honeyland as soon as possible. From its genuinely unforgettable opening minutes to its miracle end result, this is an astonishing story you need to see.
Leigh Paatsch
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True lovers of the documentary form must track down Honeyland as soon as possible, as this incredible cinematic experience will not be hanging around for long in local cinemas.
This is the story of Hatidze Muratova, a beekeeper whose mystical command of the hives makes her one of the last practitioners of a vanishing art of honey extraction.
The key to Hatidze’s extraordinary gift is her ability to track, hunt, placate, move and replace wild bees of all species, sizes and temperaments.
In Honeyland’s genuinely unforgettable opening minutes, Hatidze is seen ascending a mountain and prising open a busy hive located on a steep and craggy cliff face.
It would be dangerous enough for a trained and fit climber to be trying this. Miss Muratova is a small and stocky peasant woman aged well into her fifties, and armed with no technical assistance except a bottle of smoke (in case a savage stinger comes at her).
As the film assumes its proper shape, we discover that Hatidze and her elderly mother are the sole residents of an otherwise abandoned village in a hilly corner of rural Macedonia.
Then they acquire some neighbours: a rough-and-tumble family of itinerant cattle farmers who think it might be a good idea to hustle some honey money on the side.
Hatidze tries to share her secrets with these newcomers to the game, but her valuable counsel goes ignored, triggering a series of telling and lasting consequences for all.
Anyone with a fascination for how people should be living alongside nature – particularly those people also making a living off nature – will be totally spellbound by what they encounter here.
Honeyland’ s filmmakers found Hatidze and her astonishing story by accident, and subsequently spent three years gathering the extraordinary footage shown here.
The end result (which earned two nominations at the recent Academy Awards) is a miracle in so many ways.
HONEYLAND (M)
Directors: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov
Starring: Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam.
Rating: *****
Hive and mighty
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