Turtles Can Fly

Movie Information

In Brief: Often powerful — and somewhat controversial — film from Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi about impoverished Kurdish refugee children who eke out a bare existence by digging up and selling Iraqi landmines. An often grim, but ultimately uplifting film about our common humanity.
Score:

Genre: Drama
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Starring: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Rated: PG-13

When Turtles Can Fly (2004) last showed here, I wrote: “The first thing you notice about Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s Turtles Can Fly (2004) is how much more technically accomplished it is than most films we see from this part of the world. The colors are bright and vivid, the images are sharp and detailed, the compositions are elegant and striking, the camerawork as slick as anything from a major U.S. studio. Not only is this a pleasing departure in its own right, but it’s essential to Ghobadi’s approach, since the technical proficiency makes the grim reality of the world of its Kurdish refugee children look even grimmer by contrast. The film — the first made in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein — is a striking look at these nearly forgotten victims of war, and a sobering, saddening experience.”
The full review is here: http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/turtlescanfly.php

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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