A Honeyed Life

While watching I wasn't aware that this was a documentary - the narrative seemed to good to have happened accidentally, but much of it looked like documentary - the children clearly weren't actors, and the gaps and moments missed probably wouldn't happen in a fully constructed movie.

The scenery and people and lives depicted are stunning. The embers of a dying way of living still flickering in the the forgotten corners of Europe, and the fully embodied wisdom that such a life requires seem extraordinary to those of us trapped in a consumer-capitalist culture.

A major missing element, as a documentary, is any evidence of the relationship between the film-makers and the subjects. They apparently spent three years shooting the film, but in doing so they have erased their own presence. This inevitably raises questions as to the extent to which events were manipulated or reconstructed.

Hatidze's acceptance of the family passing through her life and their impact on her is an object lesson in the benefits of adaptability and living well based on being true to your self in relation to the world.

In the end, as in our world, life goes on. The bees return, Hatidze, and the mountains that created her, will persist even as their seasons change. A very affirmative film. 

Its not about the drinking

The business of the drinking is not the real point of the film - it is actually about life and relationships - with their classes, their families, each other.

Languid at first but compelling

Inevitably there are scenes and connections from the book which are missing, the story has been compressed to fit into a 2hr film, but it is visually and feels very like my imagination when I read the book. Since I greatly enjoyed the book this is high praise. Ultimately it comes down to a courtroom drama, which is well told and the jumping between time frames in the novel is handled well.

The visuals are excellent and Daisy Edgar-Jones is very good as Kya (although perhaps a bit old for the teenage scenes). Jojo Regina who plays 7yo Kya is also very good.

I can't comment as to whether it works well if you haven't read the book, but if you have you wont be disappointed.