Honeyland (2019)

Director: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov
Runtime: 86 minutes

Synopsis: The last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.

Verdict: Directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, "Honeyland" is a Macedonian documentary that achieved the rare feat of being nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary category as well as the Best International Film category.

The film follows Hatidze Muratova, a wild beekeeper living in isolation with her mother, as she must deal with unexpected new neighbors who pose a threat to her livelihood. 

What I loved about the Sundance sensation is its insight about the life of a very likable, hard-working, and struggling woman whose only friends are her aging mother and Mother Nature itself as well as its approach to themes bigger than its simple premise, "Save the bees" is a prime message that the documentary wants to convey to its audience and it does it beautifully using a narrative that focuses more on human greed and how we put our needs before others'. "Honeyland", however, did feature a bunch of scripted scenes and they quite honestly did feel very scripted and didn't blend well with the real aspects of it. I don't really mind a documentary featuring fictional scenes to emphasize the message it's delivering, but in that case it's more of a critique of how they were handled rather than why.

I still very much enjoyed a lot of things about "Honeyland" and do believe that it deserves to be recognized and applauded. So check it out for yourself and remember to save the bees!

FINAL GRADE: 6/10