The Beekeeper of Aleppo

In the bed and breakfast, Nuri wakes beside Afra clutching a flower instead of the key. Afra asks if it is another gift and he gives it to her, sensing her worry for him. Later, they meet with Lucy Fisher. She gives them a new letter of asylum for the doctor and informs them their interview is in five days. As she gives them directions, Nuri sees a multitude of planes out the window and hears bombs. He begins to panic, and Lucy Fisher gently tells him to look closely, that the planes are actually birds. She is kind, but serious and practical, and immediately returns to giving them instructions.

In the evening, the Moroccan man helps Diomande prepare for his own asylum interview. He asks why Diomande left his country, and the young man talks at great length about his family and the political history of Côte d’Ivoire. But the Moroccan man stops him, saying that the interviewer will want personal details, not a history lesson. Diomande becomes frustrated, insisting that the history is integral to his story. Nuri begins to think about the bees and drifts off as Afra begins to draw on her sketchpad.

Nuri wakes to the sound of Mohammed’s marble rolling again. He finds Mohammed sitting there with the key from the night before. Mohammed is wearing different clothes, a red T-shirt and denim shorts. He leads Nuri to a door at the end of the corridor he has never seen before. Unlocking it, Nuri steps out onto a hilltop in Aleppo beneath a full moon. He sees the bees’ apiaries and follows a path to the city; Mohammed runs ahead of him. There is food in the market and clothing in the shops beneath a sign that reads “The Museum.” He finds his father’s fabric shop and peers inside before following Mohammed again to the river.

In a flashback, Nuri and Afra land in the Piraeus harbor and wait with the other refugees. There is a painting that reminds Nuri of Sami, and he wishes he could become a part of the scene and never leave. Nearby there is a mother with three children and a girl missing fingers, and Nuri envies Afra’s blindness. Suddenly, there is a flash of light and Nuri sees something round and black pointed at him. He panics, thinking it is a gun, before realizing it is a camera. The man who took his photo without asking looks ashamed.

Nuri and Afra are taken to the city center in downtown Athens, where an old school has been transformed into a refugee camp. An NGO worker, Neil, leads them inside, telling them that two months earlier people were out on the streets waiting for weeks for housing. The military has set up other camps in the city, at the airport and at a park, but the man is reluctant to say more. He shows them a tent where they can stay and asks where their child is, since this place is only for families. Hearing that their child is lost, Neil says he can let them stay tonight, implying that they will have to move after.

Trying to fall asleep in the tent, Nuri thinks of the way his mother would peer into his room in Aleppo, making him feel safe. She had a red painted fan with a Chinese word on it, “Yuanfen,” meaning fate. This reminds Nuri of how he met Mustafa. Though they were cousins, the families lost touch after Mustafa’s mother died. One day, Nuri was on an errand for his father and stopped by the river. A young man asked him for directions to the honey shop, and Nuri led him there, listening to him talk about bees and Damascus University. They parted ways at the shop.

A week later, the young man brought a jar of honey to Nuri’s father’s shop to thank him for his help and to let him know that he got into the university. Seeing him, Nuri’s mother dropped her fan in recognition of her sister’s son. This was the beginning of Nuri and Mustafa’s friendship, which led to his beekeeping career and changed his life. Nuri attributes this chance meeting to Yuanfen, fate drawing the two of them together. He runs through the memory repeatedly before falling asleep in the present.

Nuri wakes in Athens to the sound of imagined bombs and screaming before remembering he is not in Aleppo. The screaming continues, and he also hears weeping and laughter. Investigating, he makes his way down to the courtyard, where many people are lingering. He approaches a laughing woman (Angeliki), whose breasts are leaking milk onto her shirt. She tells Nuri she lives in the park, where many refugees are stuck, but she comes to the courtyard at night to be safe. She says that someone has poisoned her blood, leaving her dead. Nuri regrets approaching her and eventually she leaves. He makes his way back upstairs, listening to the quiet sounds of children crying in the stillness.

In the morning, Nuri wakes to the sound of charity vehicles delivering goods. He secures some paper and colored pencils for Afra and brings them back to where she is still asleep. Waiting for her to wake, Nuri pictures Aleppo in great detail, imagining all its landmarks and architecture. When Afra wakes, she is pleased and draws the view from their house in Aleppo at Nuri’s request. Though the colors are wrong, it is beautiful. Afra stops drawing when Nuri tells her so, leaving the right side of the picture washed out and colorless, like it was during the war. She declares it finished and says no more until Neil asks them to leave.