By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Starring: Abdol Rahman Karim | Avaz Latif | Soran Ebrahim
Original language title: Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand
Country: france, iran
Year: 2005
Running time: 95
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424227/combined
Michael says: “I think trailers for foreign films about children with English-language voiceover should be BANNED! TURTLES CAN FLY follows NOBODY KNOWS with a trailer that waxes poetic about nobility, hope, inspiration… in over-sentimentalized, lyrical prose when the truth is, both films deal with harsh realities and cruelties that face children in the world today.
“Bahman Ghobadi’s (A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES; MAROONED IN IRAQ) is set in a small Kurdish village on the border of Iraq and Turkey on the eve of the latest war. The village elders are desperate for news of the impending war, but television reception is all but impossible in their remote location. Satellite is an enterprising, 13-year-old who moves through the adult world with ease, bartering with merchants, organizing the large child population on mine-sweeping expeditions, and providing the village with a satellite dish that gives them unintelligible news about Bush and the States.
“Satellite is the practical yet romantic side of a very odd triangle. Riding his colorful bicycle through the alternatively bleak and beautiful landscape, Satellite is the de facto general of the many young children inhabiting the village, shouting orders and sending his young troops out to collect mines that can be sold or traded. Satellite is like Dickens’ Fagan, with a ragtag bunch of Lost Boys at his beck and call. His right-hand man is young Pashow, so swift and adept the viewer doesn’t even notice his shriveled leg and wooden crutch. Then there is Shirkooh, even younger, and forever weeping even as he shouts out his reports and does Satellite’s bidding. Satellite’s is the main journey of the film, and the one that shows a striking metamorphosis from young despot in training, to a damaged, yet more introspective young man with potential for leadership. By the end of the film he has become disillusioned, but the capacity for strength is still there.
“On the other side of the triangle is Hengov, a young refugee who has lost both his arms yet suffers uncannily accurate predictive dreams. We first see Hengov disarming a mine with his mouth, then immediately getting into an argument with Satellite, who feels threatened by the boy’s charisma. Hengov shares Satellite’s hopefulness, despite the harsh realities of life, and the brutalities of his recent past. He and his sister Agrin have ‘adopted’ a blind orphan boy and Hengov sees this odd trio as a sort of nuclear family whose continued existence will prove that life goes on. Unfortunately, his predictions keep showing him the horrors to come, yet Hengov keeps striving to survive.
“Agrin completes the triangle, and she is the haunted beauty who, yes, captures Satellite’s heart, yet is as emotionally damaged from the horrific conditions as her brother is physically. She is the caretaker of the young toddler, but there is something more to their relationship than is first apparent, as he is a constant reminder of the horror that has recently befallen her. She wants nothing more than to leave the village with Hengov, and rebuffs Satellite’s attentions, despite an unwilling interest. Her beautiful face, bereft of hope, is Ghobadi’s central image, often surrounded by the stark beauty of the land, and it clearly symbolizes the state of affairs for children in that situation at that time.
“TURTLES CAN FLY is bleak and sobering, but it is also filled with dark humor, heart-pounding tension, and moments of surprising beauty. The magical realism and moments of fable (Shirkooh’s presentation of Saddam’s large iron-arm to Satellite is a beautiful and heavily symbolic image) are welcome and seem to fit in beautifully. TURTLES is the first film to be filmed in Iraq post-Saddam. 4 cats”