Turtles Can Fly, written and directed by Bahman Ghobadi (Marooned in Iraq, A Time for Drunken Horses) takes place in the days leading up to America's second war against Iraq, in a small village and refugee camp on the border of Iraq and Turkey. Soran Ebrahim stars as Satellite, a boy nicknamed for his obsession with technology. Satellite is also obsessed with the United States, and sprinkles bits of English throughout his speech. His strong personality and his resourcefulness have made him a
leader among the younger children in the village. He even convinces the village elders to trade in their radios and purchase a satellite dish so they can watch news broadcasts on the upcoming war. Tension mounts as the village waits to hear when the U.S. will invade. For his part, Satellite finds himself smitten with an orphan girl, Agrin (Avaz Latif), who wanders into the refugee camp with her armless older brother, Henkov (Hirsh Feyssal), and a little boy who is nearly blind. Henkov earns a meager living clearing minefields, like Satellite, so Satellite sees him, at first, as a rival. But his earnest desire to help Agrin eventually extends to her family. Satellite and his friends find moments of joy amid the chaos and destruction, but Agrin seems haunted by past events too painful to reconcile, and her brother Henkov derives no pleasure from his seeming ability to predict the future. Turtles Can Fly was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2005 as a part of the Film Comment Selects series. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
Despite its fanciful title, Turtles Can Fly leads viewers into a slough of despond, one in which not just hope is strangled but virtually any possibility for simple human kindness.
Bahman Ghobadi works best on pain and suffering; he's passionate about filming his people (Kurds) from the inside of the society, with the focus on their miseries
Turtles Can Fly is the first feature shot in Iraq after the fall of Hussein, and writer/director Ghobadi, an Iranian, melds grimly authentic settings with a peculiar type of magic realism.
Best film I have seen in a long time, Involves the boarder of Iraq, Iran and Turkey\, where homeless children are trying to survive. One Young man is the head of everything, he wheels and deals in everything. These children get paid for digging land mines. A very interesting film that all should see. Nothing less then
5 stars.
April 22, 2010
Bruce Bruce
Super Reviewer
An interesting story about Iraqi kids living in a refugee camp on the border of Turkey anticipating the Iraq War and hoping for the fall of Sadaam. The kid actors are actually refugees and improvised a lot of scenes, so it is neat and effective. The story itself can be depressing, but it is well made and shows a
different side of a conflict.
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