Nature and humankind walk hand-in-hand. Jeneffa Soldatic and Deborah Grimberg’s short film, The Honey Makers, draws parallels between the anti-immigration sentiment of 1984 North London and the social order of a beehive.
Arjun (Anil Goutam) and Lalita (Nila Aalia) are immigrants of Indian descent who own and operate a small general store in North London. They have two problems: a beehive forming in the garden at the rear of the store and a small gang of skinheads periodically lays siege at the front of the store, banging on the windows and taking food from the store, paying with a more than ample dose of bullying and intimidation.
“…there is a beehive forming in the garden at the rear… [and] a small gang of skinheads periodically lays siege at the front…”
When a beekeeper arrives to transplant the hive safely, several parallels are drawn between the hive and the bullies outside. The main one being if you just leave the hive alone, they’ll eventually go away. The Honey Maker is a short film designed to make its audience think about current anti-immigration sentiment and bullying tactics against people who are not like us.
Soldatic and Grimberg present their message sweetly and never in a heavy-handed way. The filmmakers effectively pace their story over the twelve-minute runtime to get the point across. I should also mention, they could not have cast The Honey Maker any better. Each actor plays their role to natural perfection. The bullies are never played as stereotypes and even have moments of subtle nuance to ground their abhorrent behavior.
"…parallels are drawn between the hive and the bullies..."
