Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE TALE OF SILYAN [Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - Toronto, Canada]

The balance between narrative and documentary can be blended but at times it makes the line harder to see. "The Tale Of Silyan" [TIFF Docs] is an interesting exercise simply because it blends the aspects of two elements. The story is both true and heightened yet the line of what created it is a little fuzzy despite its power. The question becomes is the connection between the lead character Nicola and a stork he nurtures back to health simply recreation or observation. Either way it works quite well but the chicken or the egg question still looms. Nikola, likely many of his older compatriots in Eastern Macedonia sees his farming business and profit margin slow to an absolute crawl. His daughter needs to move away with her family to Germany in order to make ends meet Eventually Nicola's wife Jana heads there to help care for their grandchild. Nicola is left alone, pondering what to do with his farm, to sell it off or how to move forward. His fellow farmers are picketing in the streets as their crops go back. Eventually some burn their fields, possibly for the insurance money.

All during this what is moving in the background is that the nesting background of the white stork lurks all around them. According to the film, there is a folk tale about a boy named Silyan who argues with his father and is turned into a stork. It is more of a cautionary tale with a context in the periphery of what we see. But the heart of the film, directed by Tamara Kotevska lies in that once we see Nikola start working at the landfill where trash, the carcasses of the birds and rotting crops come together, we seem him save a stork with a broken wing among all the rot. He takes it to a vet. He doesn't want it to be his responsibility but the context of him drying off the stork when it gets cold in the rain shows the bird nuzzling into him. The director also was key to put in the end that there was no AI used in the making of the film (and it doesn't look like CGI). Nicola and his friend building a nest at his house from an abandoned stork's nest at a factory speak to a empathetic and simplistic action. Even the stork himself realizing that he cannot fly and asking for help in his own way is telling. Whether it is real or staged in a certain way, the connection of a man trying to help something which is natural even as his land withers is a powerful message. The resolution might be wishful thinking or a sense of renewal. "The Tale Of Silyan", doc or not, talks about the human spirit...this one a story in the Balkans...but just as human as any other. B+

By Tim Wassberg