For three years, filmmakers Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov travelled to rural Central North Macedonia filming various interactions happening in the area. While there, the filmmakers met Hatidze Muratova, a hard-working older woman who raises bees and strongly believes in a balance between nature and humans — a mindset that has quickly been going out of fashion. As Muratova is going about her life, suddenly — almost out of nowhere — a family moves in next door. What was once a quiet and peaceful life has now become filled with screaming children, loud animals and a family with a lack of respect for the nature around them. Muratova starts to feel the real-world effects of this family moving in when her bees start to die and she has to deal with these issues, which results in Honeyland.

Before the film can get into nearly anything else, the first thing to stand out about Honeyland is the sheer beauty of it. Cinematographers Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma bring these rolling hills of North Macedonia to life in gorgeous style. This is a stunning land filled with life and breathtaking nature that could not be recreated, even if filmmakers tried. Not only does the film look beautiful because of the cinematography and setting, but this is important for setting up the film and the story it is telling. This is a film that depends on the beauty and importance of nature to sell the audience into caring about the subject matter.

What makes the film really effective is how annoying the family that moves in actually is. In the sound mixing of the film there is nearly always a headache-inducing level of kids screaming while the viewer is left to watch them make bad decision after bad decision. Especially when putting into contrast with the peaceful start of the film, it is able to stand out and create an issue that truly affects the viewer. The film is careful, however, to never really make the family the villains. They are simply just another family who is trying to survive in the way they know how. When their actions can come off as annoying, it is clear the film also has a level of sympathy for them, which is able to translate to the audience.

The message the film creates is nearly poetic at times. Of course, one of the main points made within the film is the effect humans are having on the environment and the real-world consequences they are creating with their actions. It is easily shown within the film in instances when the new family takes all their bees honey which leads the bees to attack the hives belonging to Muratova, causing them to die. However, the film is not just merely an environmental film. Hatidze Muratova is a fascinating woman filled with badass determination and power, which is sincerely inspiring, yet still, her life is one of struggle and hardship. She has to fight to create a life where she and her sick mother can even survive. The film does not glamorize her life of struggle and solitude — it is respected, but the film never tries to make it seem effortless. This is where the most powerful and moving elements of the plot come in and push this documentary to another level.

Honeyland is a film that is hard to forget. Filled with equal levels of beauty and struggle, this is a compelling look at how we live and the consequences it can have on the world and people around us. By choice, it is annoying and hard to sit through at times, but the experience that comes from sitting through those moments of pain do pay off.

Honeyland is a solid and emotionally stirring film that has become the first film to receive nominations in both Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature categories, against all odds in a strong category of stellar film. No matter what happens on Oscar night, there is no doubt that Honeyland will remain one of the more powerful and memorable documentaries of the past few years, but for it to conquer the category may be a step too far.

HONEYLAND is released September 13th (UK) and July 26th 2019

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