The worst thing about a new, shocking war is it so often erases the memories of equally appalling ones in the past.
In the late Nineties, the brutal conflict between Kosovo and Serbia eventually ended with thousands of casualties - many of whom are yet to be identified.
The Kosovo wives - they're mostly not formally called "widows" yet - are forced to petition the authorities to find out what happened to their husbands.
Photo: Supplied
While they wait, their only income is the bare minimum of government handouts.
In the small village of Krusha in Kosovo, the women are doubly squeezed. "We don't want money," says one of them, Fahrije. "We want jobs."
But there's pressure being brought to bear by the surviving men, who disapprove of women working. In rural Kosovo, women earning money - or driving, or travelling on their own into the city - is simply not done.
The rampant sexism in Eastern European villages equals that of their brothers in the Middle East, if movies like Hive are anything to go by.
Suffice to say Fahrije and her friends can expect little or no support from the local RSA.
But one woman at least isn't going to take this lying down. Fahrije already has a small income from her late husband's bee-hives, which may explain her entrepreneurial spirit.
She suggests to the other women that they should be selling their home-grown produce in the city.
The particular item is a Kosovo delicacy called ajvar made from roasted red peppers. East Europe can't get enough of the stuff.
But getting the women to join her in the face of opposition from the male chauvinist pig collective proves tricky.
Even Fahrije's crippled father-in-law - who she has to push around in a wheelchair, feed and bathe - is against her.
"When my son gets back, he'll be horrified," he grumbles. "If he gets back" reminds Fahrije.
Now anyone who's ever seen a movie about a plucky woman up against the whole village to follow her dream will have a pretty good idea what's likely to happen next.
But it doesn't make it any less appealing, as we watch the community, one by one, starting to see sense.
Hive - the name covers both Fahrije's honey business and the growing group of women creating and bottling ajvar - is the work of an all-Kosovo production company and, unsurprisingly, it's based on a true story.
The writer-director is Blerta Basholli - this is her debut feature, and it's very nicely done. And the star is Yllka Gashi - she looks like a Slavic Sandra Bullock - who's had a bit more experience.
She was the star of the "hit Albanian sitcom Modern Family" - a phrase I'm pretty sure I've never had the chance to use before!
But she's terrific and Hive benefits from her sincerity and the fact that I've never seen a film set in Kosovo before this.
The real-life background may possibly give you a hint that there'll be some sort of happy ending.
But there's also a final scene, linked to the opening, where we saw the only way to find out the fate of loved ones is to go through the clothes of war victims.
It's a reminder that there are very few happy endings after a war.
The best anyone can hope for is that the survivors be allowed to move on, and maybe work together to improve their lot.
Like so many European festival films, Hive shows people at their best, often in the face of people at their worst.
