Starring Soran Ebrahim, Saddam Hossein Feysal. Written and directed by Bahman Ghobadi. (14A) 97 min. Opens Apr 22.
In one of many tragicomic scenes in the latest by Kurdish director
Bahman Ghobadi, an American military helicopter rains leaflets down on
a crowd of Kurdish refugees. The propaganda boldly promises "to take
away your sorrows," yet Turtles Can Fly illustrates the Kurds' troubles won't be so easily relieved by a can-do attitude and a few candy bars.
Set near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of the 2003 US invasion, Turtles Can Fly
is about a group of refugee children who react to their circumstances
with everything from shock to confusion to joy. They have formed a
raucous society of orphans -- the only adults around are the wizened
village chiefs, who are too distracted by the portents of war to care
about the kids. The camp's real leader is Kak Satellite (Soran
Ebrahim), an industrious 13-year-old so named for his aptitude at
installing TV satellite dishes. When not inflicting glimpses of MTV on
his Allah-fearing elders, Kak leads the youngsters in their sole
money-making effort: removing the mines that have already cost many of
them parents and/or limbs. Kak's vaunted status is imperilled by the
arrival of an armless boy who can see the future, his taciturn sister
and the baby who was the product of her rape by Iraqi soldiers.
Despite its sometimes horrific content,
Turtles Can Fly is mostly too rambunctious to be grim. Ghobadi, an assistant director on Abbas Kiarostami's
The Wind Will Carry Us and the director of
A Time for Drunken Horses,
punctuates the more meditative and lyrical passages with moments of
humour and great energy. Only in the final scenes do the events take on
a more starkly tragic aspect as the arrival of the Americans coincides
with the end of the young characters' own ability to brave the sorrows
that surround them. Ghobadi's moving yet mirthful film celebrates their
tenacity.