Hive (Kovan)

Based on a true story Hive is set after the war in Kosovo in a small village from which the men were taken and have never returned.

Hoping against hope that they will, Fahrije (Yilka Gashi) also realises that the women and girls of the village cannot live on that just that. So Fahrije and other female members of the village set up a small business selling their own food products that occupies their time while also earning an income to live on and feed their families.

This simple and practical idea is condemned by the elder patriarchs of the village and there is resistance within her family - her father-in-law - and some of the other women. The mere sight of Fahrije driving a barely functioning banger is enough to trigger abuse and stone-throwing by the men.

The business starts to take off lead to misogynistic resentment in turn leading to an attack on the stockroom, destroying almost all of their products. The misogyny turns to attempted rape that Fahrije fights off.

Blerta Basholli has crafted a deeply moving, heart-warming and positive film set in the aftermath of a hideous war, the effects of which still resonates today. Not flashy but tightly directed, this is a complex clash of beliefs that are so tightly held that to some override everything. The men appear totally unmoved by what has happened, with no understanding (or even trying to) of why the women are doing what they do.

It’s mainly the men but the patriarchy is so deeply ingrained that some of the women and Fahrije’s own daughter who see it as disrespectful to her father, as they hold on to the hope that they will all return.

And that dreadful unknown runs through the film as investigators liaise with families to establish the truth about their men. Trawling through footage trying to identify them through their face through grainy photos or the clothes they were wearing. Any sort of ID is used as the investigators go about the grisly task of examining remains and then informing relations.

There are some parallels with Pedro Almodóvar’s recent film Parallel Mothers which highlights that after almost eighty years there are still families in Spain that do not know what happened to their relatives after the war and the psychological effects of that.

The Hive of the story is literal as the women keep bees and sell the honey. It’s also a metaphor or two: one could be for an insular closed society and culture, but more positively about the women and girls of the village working together to break the patriarchal stranglehold, proving they can be successful and independent.

Hive is released in cinemas on 18 March, with nationwide previews on International Women’s Day on 8 March.
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