Though dismissed by a few as shamelessly manipulative because of the use of children, especially maimed ones, to make its point, Turtles Can Fly is strong stuff that should be seen. It’s a political work, but Ghobadi’s film — focusing on children making a bare living by digging up and selling Iraqi landmines — is more in search of the common experience of humanity. Nowhere is this more evident than in a scene where the main character (Soran Ebrahim) — a psychic, armless boy — has predicted something will happen to a truck that’s being unloaded. He urges the kids to get off the truck, at which point someone tells him, “Not all of them are our boys,” only to have him respond, “That doesn’t matter.” That says it all.
Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present Turtles Can Fly Friday, April 17, at 8 p.m. at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com
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