Bal (Honey) by Semih Kaplanoglu. 103 min
Yusuf has started primary school and is learning how to read and write. His father, Yakup works far in the depths of a frightening forest. He is a honey-gatherer who hangs his hand-made beehives in the upper branches of tall trees in the forest. The forest is a place of mystery for Yusuf, who often accompanies his father. One morning Yusuf describes the dream he had seen that night to his father. This dream is to be an ever-lasting secret between the father and the son. On that same day, as Yusuf struggles to read before his entire classmates the text the teacher has given him, he begins suddenly to stutter and is ridiculed by his classmates.
Yakup goes to a distant forest, looking for the Caucasian bees which seem to be quickly and mysteriously disappearing. His father gone, Yusuf slips into silence. Yusuf’s mother, Zehra (28), who works in the tea fields, is saddened to see her son in this state. No matter how much she tries, she cannot get her son to speak. Days pass and Zehra and Yusuf becomes anxious when Yakup does not return. Zehra sends Yusuf to spend the sacred Mirac Night (the night of the Ascension of the Prophet) with his grandmother, who lives quite a distance away from their village. There, Yusuf listens to the story of the Mirac, and believes that his father, who to the lad resembles the Holy Prophet, will return. The next day they fail to find Yakup at the festival being held on Sis (mist) Mountain. Yusuf goes deep into the forest to search for his father. Will the dream he has seen come true? *
Bal (Honey) is on general release in the UK from Friday. Enjoy!
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