Honeyland isn't really a joyful documentary but it's very well made. No interviews at all, just raw footage from how Hatidze Muratova, a Macedonian beekeepster, lives with her mother in a shed you wouldn't put your dog in. The images are of high quality, sad and stunning at the same time, and make you think about how good we have it compared to some other people. The harsh life Hatidze Muratova has, of solitude and poverty, it's just not a happy story but it's poignant to watch. The Sam family are the typical poor people I don't understand. Like father Sam said at one point, "one year, one kid" was the saddest thing I heard in awhile. Why would you create so many kids when you can't manage to live decently yourself, why putting so many kids through this kind of mysery? It's a worldwide problem, not enough education and contraception, ridiculous beliefs that all lead to this kind of self-destructing behavior. That said, that's just my opinion and it doesn't really matter what I think. The documentary isn't really about bees like I thought it would be, it's about loneliness, desperation, injustice and hope. Unbelievable people in our era still have to live like this, where a broken antique radio is the best entertainment they can hope for. Honeyland is certainly worth watching, maybe some people will stop whining about stupid futile things after seeing in what real mysery other people live and that not for a couple hours but a lifetime long.
Review of Honeyland
