Hive (2021)

The Kosovo War ended in 1999, but for many families its consequences stretched on for years, even decades, in the form of missing persons cases that were never formally resolved. An estimated 1,600 people remained unaccounted for as of the early 2020s, and the women left behind occupied an almost impossible position: neither widows nor wives, expected to wait in a society that offered them very little agency in the meantime. It is from exactly that human reality that Hive (2021) draws its story, following Fahrije, a real woman from the village of Krusha e Madhe whose husband disappeared during the war and who responded by doing something that, in her community, turned out to be quietly radical: she organised other women in similar circumstances and started a small food business. The film is grounded in documented events, which gives it a weight that pure fiction sometimes struggles to achieve, and the specific setting, a close-knit, conservative rural community in Kosovo, is central to everything that follows.

Writer and director Blerta Basholli made Hive as her feature debut, working from her own screenplay. The production was a genuinely international co-operation, involving companies across Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Switzerland, which reflects both the regional significance of the subject matter and the practical realities of funding independent cinema in this part of the world. The film ran to 84 minutes, lean and unpadded, and screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021 where it made a considerable impression on the awards panels. For Albanian-language cinema to reach that kind of international platform is not a routine occurrence, and Hive arrived alongside only a handful of other films from the region to gain real traction abroad (the blog has covered a couple of other Albanian productions, including Castle Freak (2020) and Alive! (2009), though those are very different kinds of films in tone and genre). The subject of women pushing back against patriarchal structures in tight-knit communities also places Hive in a broader conversation about films coming out of various regions in the 2020s, and it shares certain thematic ground with other festival-circuit dramas of the period such as Mustang (2015), another drama centred on women resisting the expectations placed on them by their communities.

The central performance comes from Yllka Gashi as Fahrije, a role that requires her to carry the film through some quietly demanding emotional territory without ever tipping into sentiment. Alongside her, Aurita Agushi, Adriana Matoshi, Kaona Sylejmani and Çun Lajçi fill out a cast that is largely composed of actors working primarily in Albanian-language theatre and television, which gives the ensemble a grounded, naturalistic quality. The production, polished but unremarkable on a technical level, keeps its visual style functional and close to the characters rather than drawing attention to itself.

A-Z World Movie Tour Kosovo This actually became the first film in Sundance history to win all three main awards (the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award) in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. This tells the true story of a lady in Kosovo called Fahrije who's husband went missing during the Kosovo war and was never found. She starts a collective of women in similar positions and through various methods of empowerment including driving and farming, start to take control of their lives and provide for their family. The eye opening part is that this village is super traditional and even something as mundane as women driving is seen as radical. This film basically depicts her struggle against that. Despite winning all those sundance awards it is pretty straightforward as a movie. There's no particularly great element to it. It's just slightly above average.

For me, that Sundance clean sweep is the most striking piece of context around this one, and it is the sort of fact that can accidentally do a film a disservice. Walk in expecting something formally adventurous or emotionally overwhelming and you might come away, as I did, feeling that the reputation slightly outpaces the film itself. What is here is honest, competent and worth your time, particularly if you have any interest in the region or the history, but it does not linger the way the best festival winners tend to. Sometimes a film just tells you a true story clearly and without fuss, and that has to be enough.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 2021  | Watched: 2025-07-06

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Hive (2021) on YouTube

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