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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Children as the Microcosm of the War on Iraq: An Astonishing Film!,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Turtles Can Fly (DVD)
'Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand' (TURTLES CAN FLY) takes your breath away. Not only is the story by writer/director Bahman Ghobadi timely, it is one of the most devastatingly real examinations of the people of Iraq in the days before the American preemptive attack: it is more real because the entire story is told through the eyes of children.
The action takes place in Kurdistan, Iraq at the Turkish border. The temporary refugee camp in the hills is occupied by children who make money by gathering live mines and used shells from the military conditions under Saddam Hussein's rule. They struggle to make deals for a satellite dish so that they can provide coverage of the war for the elders (they are not allowed to watch Hussein's forbidden channels!), they form rival groups for the monetary aspects of weapons gathering, and they rely on a leader by the name of Satellite (Soran Ebrahim) who appears to be the oldest of the children. His 'associates' are the crippled boy Pashow (Saddam Hossein Feysal) able to run as fast as even Satellite on a bicycle with just one leg and a crutch; Shirkooh (Ajil Zibari) whose tears flow easily; Hengov (Hiresh Feysal Rahman) who lost his arms to the land mines and has the ability to foresee the future; and the mysterious Agrin (Avaz Latif) the sole girl who with Hengov is caring for a blind two year orphan Riga (Abdol Rahman Karim). The children, all orphans, are on the watch for war they know will come, watch and listen for the Americans to arrive, and struggle for survival under Satellite's organized control. Agrin wishes to escape it all, pleads with Hengov to return to their home, but Hengov will not leave the child Riga. As the tension mounts tragedies occur, touching all of the children. But the manner in which the children finally observe as Hussein's statue topples and as the American troops distribute 'hopeful' fliers from helicopters, events bringing an end to their temporary refuge camp status, is heart-wrenchingly portrayed. The film is full of passion. The young 'actors' are splendid: how Ghobadi found such children to play tough parts in such a wholly naturalistic way is a true feat of genius. This is a powerful, disturbing, yet ultimately beautiful film that deserves everyone's close attention. In Kurdish with English subtitles. Highly recommended! Grady Harp, October 05
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Trapped between Iraq and a hard (Turkish) place,
By Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbing, yet revelatory,
By Rachel (PA, US) - See all my reviews The film is set in Iraqi Kurdistan, primarily in a refugee town near the Turkish border. The story follows a boy in his early teens, Satellite, so named for his ability to set up satellite dishes, a much-wanted commoditiy in Iraq preceding the US invasion. Satellite is always wanted in the local villages; he has authority even with the elders, and is a father figure to the children (many of them orphans) and finds them work, mostly digging up mines and selling them to the UN. At the beginning of the movie, Satellite mets Agrin, a pretty but deeply troubled girl. She is accompanied by her brother, who lost both of his arms to a land mine but has the mysterious ability to see into the future. Also with them is a toddler, whose relationship to Agrin and her brother is not revealed until later. Agrin's brother, known as the 'armless boy' has been having a series of disturbing premonitions; the war is coming closer and closer. Satellite works frantically to prepare the regugee camp for the invasion. He also attempts to befriend Agrin, and in the course of the movie we discover disturbing and troubling things about this strange family's haunted past. Turtles Can Fly does not, as some expected, portray the United States in a negative light. However, it makes a very clear statement that our self-appointed position as liberators is skewed and false. Many scenes reinforce this; Satellite will be racing around after one tragedy or another, and the US tanks just roll past, indifferent. This is not a feel-good movie. It is disturbing, haunting, troubling, and heart-breaking. However, it also opens a window on a culture few people know about: Iraq under Saddam, specifically, the lives of war-torn children in pre-invasion Kurdistan. This movie gives names and faces to Iraqis, and portrays the US as children on the ground saw it. It is also frequently witty and endearing. All in all, this is an intense, eye-opening, and very alive movie. It captures war from a perspective often ignored, and gives breath to the population we hear so much about on the news. It handles the children's lives in a restrained and sometimes slightly surreal manner, but turns a far-seeing, sweeping eye on the surrounding area, and the great tides of conflict that shaped and changed a region.
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