Turtles Can Fly
by Bahman Ghobadi
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Abdol Rahman Karim, Avaz Latif, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Soran EbrahimDirector: Bahman Ghobadi
Cinematographer: Shahriar Assadi
Producer: Bahman Ghobadi
Writer: Bahman Ghobadi
Editor: Haydeh Safi-Yari
Editor: Mostafa Kherghehpoosh
Producer: Abbas Ghazali
Producer: Babak Amini
Producer: Hamid Ghavami
Producer: Hamid Karim Batin Ghobadi
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Kurdish (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-20
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Turtles Can Fly
Movie Review: an outstanding motion picture
Summary: 5 Stars
Turtles Can Fly is an especially good movie in that we get a rarely seen view of war from the children whose country is being ravaged by it. The performances in this film are nothing less than superlative and outstanding in every way; and I was fascinated by the way Iraqi towns, markets and refugee villages looked and operated on a social level. The cinematography is excellent; and the choreography couldn't be better either. This is a powerful film!
When the action starts we meet Satellite (Soran Ebrahim), a young boy in a small Kurdish town in Iraq just before the most recent Iraqi War. Satellite is, in essence, the leader of the village refugee children and many of the adults, too; and for such a young man he does an incredibly fine job of shepherding the flock. Satellite gets his name mostly because he is a local expert at hooking up Iraqi villages in the area to satellite television so that they can get the news. Satellite's right hand man (so to speak, they're all adolescents or children), Pashow (Saddam Hossein Feysal), helps Satellite anyway he can and Pashow is also Satellite's best friend and confidante. While Satellite wheels and deals, trading land mines for weapons for the soon to start war with America, he is also eyeing a pretty but very troubled young girl named Agrin (Avaz Latif). Agrin has a great deal of bitterness over the recent past; it seems that Agrin and her armless brother Hengov (Hiresh Feysal Rahman) lost their parents to murderers who left their own very small child behind--and now Agrin and Hengov are stuck raising the child of the people who killed their parents.
Hengov doesn't mind being "Uncle Hengov" to the young boy. He has much love in his heart; he also has an uncanny knack for making predictions about the future that almost always come true. Even Satellite uses Hengov's prediction about exactly when the Iraqi War will start.
Of course, from here the plot can go just about anywhere. Will the war start when Hengov predicts it will? How will Hengov and Agrin ever end their dispute about caring for the young boy left behind by the people who killed their parents? Will Satellite be able to make Agrin his girlfriend? No plot spoilers here--watch this excellent film and find out!
It may seem as if I've given too much of the plot away but when you watch this film you will know I really haven't. This is, as I wrote above, a rather powerful movie that you won't forget anytime soon. I wish that there were extras on the DVD; the only "extra" we get besides scene selection is a small number of "previews" that doesn't count for much. I would have loved director commentary on this film.
Turtles Can Fly paints a distressing portrait of just how badly children can be affected by terrible war. This is a great film for people interested in social causes and children's rights in foreign countries especially; and people interested in the Iraqi War may also like this movie.
Summary of Turtles Can Fly
From acclaimed director Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses) comes the first film shot in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Heart-wrenching as well as spirit-raising (The Hollywood Reporter), Turtles Can Fly mixes humor and tragedy to startling effect, resulting in a very timely masterpiece (TV Guide) about children struggling to survive in an endless war zone. On the Iraqi-Turkish border, enterprising 13-year-old 'satellite (Soran Ebrahim) is the de facto leader of a Kurdish village, thanks to his ability to install satellite dishes and translate news of the pending US invasion. Organizing fellow orphans into landmine-collection teams so that they can eke out a living, heis all business until the arrival of a clairvoyant boy and his quiet, beautiful sister.Too few films capture war from the point of view of the children who endure it--perhaps because it's awful to contemplate. But Turtles Can Fly manages to be both heartbreaking and galvanizing in its depiction of young Iraqis waiting for the U.S. Army to roll over their village on the border of Turkey. A boy called Satellite (Soran Ebrahim), so called because he knows how to hook up a satellite dish, divides his time turning himself into a big operator--he commands a small army of children who search the fields for land mines they can sell to the U.N.--and wooing a pretty but haunted girl named Agrin (Avaz Latif) whose brother has no arms but can see the future. Satellite's mixture of scheming and genuine compassion drives the movie forward; it's impossible not to become engrossed in his courage and ambition, even as the world crumbles around him. Since the U.S. has linked its fate with that troubled country, learning a little about the Iraqi people would be good for everyone involved; fortunately, Turtles Can Fly is more than just an educational opportunity. Rich humor helps balance the harrowing circumstances, making the movie a riveting experience. --Bret Fetzer
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