Kosovo, a tiny, partially recognized country in Southeast Europe, has a turbulent history that those unfamiliar with the nation don’t have to look far to know about. Amidst the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, this small piece of land south of Serbia has been in the center of constant war with its neighbors. Since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008, to date, just 97 countries recognize the tiny nation, including the United States. It is the background to Blerta Basholli’s anguishing story of personal self-determination.
Yllka Gashi plays Fahrije, a woman with a teenage daughter, son, and elderly father to look after since the disappearance of her husband. In the village, most of the women don’t have their husbands or sons because years earlier, the Serbian military rounded them up. It is believed that they were all killed, but the lack of bodies being dug up keeps the hopes of many that they are alive imprisoned and will return. It is a mirage that Fahrije knows is not going to happen and seeks to do something to survive. So, she begins a plan to produce and sell honey ajvar, a local condiment in the region, and brings other women who are also in her position.
However, even in the new millennium, the women are still held down to become housewife and rely on their husbands. Only men can achieve in business because society’s patriarchy maintains such a status and men refuse to have it be violated by the opposite sex. For Fahrije, it’s an uphill battle as the men in the village refuse, sometimes violently, to accept this attempt by the women. Again, it is the belief that, unless their bodies are found, the missing men will return and make life normal again, which is why some women are initially reluctant to join in Fahrije’s plan. Yet, she knows that they are on their own and must do anything to make a living in such an isolated place.
Hive is Kosovo’s selection for the International Film Oscar category and one that is widely deserved for a nomination. In just 84 minutes, Basholli brings in one of the best films of the year a true story (some characters and events were either renamed or fictitious) that has the same reach as another masterpiece from last year, Quo Vadis, Aida? It is not about the war, but long past the aftermath where there is no closure on that fateful day and people need to start looking at the future. Fahrije is determined to break the sexist cycle that women can also be successful and that there is no going back to the old ways. They were once blanketed in a singular nation under communism, then the wars began for self-determination amongst the people that have now long shifted to capitalism.
The naturalism that comes in this movie with the performances and the setting, not a place one looks to in storytelling, is also part of Hive being a standout. The war in the Balkans and the continuous political feuding with the former Yugoslav states gets ignored in the news because it’s something very complicated and one that is based in centuries of ethnic hatred. It is the same Quo Vadis and Angelina Jolie’s In The Land Of Blood And Honey explore within the context of their respective plots. And in the end, these are real people that have endured a lot, will survive, but the scars of the missing remain on them.
Grade: A+
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