Movie Review: The Tale of Silyan

By John Corrado

In her new documentary The Tale of Silyan, the follow-up to her Oscar-nominated Honeyland, director Tamara Kotevska once again explores the balance between people and nature in North Macedonia.

In Honeyland, Kotevska focused on an elderly beekeeper having her traditional way of life – and her livelihood – threatened by a new family moving in and encroaching upon her land. With The Tale of Silyan, she shows us how these traditional farmers who have spent their lives toiling the land are struggling under current economic conditions and government policy.

Kotevska specifically explores the bond between farmers and white storks, who traditionally have been like their neighbours, but have had their own migratory patterns and food sources impacted by modern factors. The main subject of Kotevska’s film is Nikola, an aging farmer in rural Macedonia, who is struggling to make enough money selling his produce at the market. This prompts his family to leave in search of greener pastures abroad, as he takes a menial job working at a garbage dump.

This is where he finds a stork with an injured wing that he begins nursing back to health. Threaded through the film is the Macedonian folk tale of a young man named Silyan, who wanted to leave his family and village, but was turned into a stork by his father as punishment. Nikola tells this story in voiceover, as elements of it weave into his own life, giving deeper meaning to his bond with the injured stork that he also names Silyan.

Like with Honeyland, the most striking aspect of Kotevska’s film is the widescreen cinematography. Shot by Jean Dakar (who also worked with Kotevska on her film The Walk), the film features gorgeous shots of the storks themselves that rival any nature documentary. On a human level, we get striking images of the family surrounded by the three tonnes of potatoes they can’t sell, or farmers throwing their excess produce into the street as part of a tractor blockade in protest of new government policies.

As an observing, respectful glimpse into a different culture and way of life, The Tale of Silyan provides a lovely companion piece to Kotevska’s Honeyland. Kotevska’s approach of living with her subjects and capturing elements of their daily lives allows us to be a fly-on-the-wall for conversations between Nikola and his friend Jana, as they discuss their families and their place in a changing world. These unique subjects provide the heart of the film, allowing The Tale of Silyan to function as both slice of life portrait and nature documentary.