With "Bal - Honig" director Semih Kaplanoğlu delivers the third part of his Yusuf trilogy told chronologically backwards. So in the concluding film, Yusuf is a young boy (wonderfully played by eight-year-old Bora Atlaş) who lives with his parents in the mountains of northeastern Turkey. Yusuf admires his father, the beekeeper Yakup, whose job comes with some dangers. After all, in order to extract the coveted black honey of the Rize region, he must hang his beehives high in the trees. Yusuf is happy to accompany his father to work, as he learns a lot about the secrets of nature. But when the bees disappear from the region and Yakup has to move on to the neighbouring region, Yusuf stays behind with his mother and waits for his father to return. But the days pass and no sign of Yakup...
At the Berlinale, "Bal - Honig" was awarded the Golden Bear. Why, can really only be guessed at. Certainly, the visual language of the film is great. Kaplanoğlu does not rely on dialogue, but lets his images speak. Nature, the creaking of trees, the buzzing of bees, these are the voices the film speaks with. But as fascinating as this may be, it also makes the film a somewhat tedious affair.
For as beautiful as "Bal - Honig" is to look at, and as wonderful as the actors are, especially Bora Atlaş, it's just not enough to carry the film through its running time of just under 100 minutes. Surely there are numerous arthouse aficionados who will be able to lose themselves in the film's imagery in such a way. And these viewers, who can also understand why the film won the Golden Bear, will perhaps also discover that certain something that makes this work so special, so beautiful. But it can be assumed that this is a rather manageable target group. All others will be able to appreciate the beautiful pictures and the good actors, but will be overwhelmed by merciless boredom at the latest halfway through the film, which definitely weakens the emotionality of the ending.
Therefore: For arthouse lovers who love slowness and silence in film, "Bal - Honig" is guaranteed to be a very special experience. All others should prepare not only for great pictures, but also for proper boredom
