Description

Turtles Can Fly 2004
Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand (original title)
PG-13 | 1h 38min | Drama, War | 23 February 2005 (France)

Storyline:

On the Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border, the boy Satellite is the leader of the kids. He commands them to clear and collect American undetonated minefields in the fields to sell them in the street market and he installs antennae for the villagers. He goes with the local leader to buy a parabolic antenna to learn the news about the eminent American invasion but nobody speaks English and Satellite that knows a couple of words is assigned to translate the Fox News. When the orphans Agrin and her armless brother Hengov and the blind toddler Riga come from Halabcheh to the camp, Satellite falls in an unrequited love for Egrin. But the girl is traumatized by a cruel raid in her home, when her parents were murdered and she was raped. She wants to leave Riga behind and travel with her brother Hengov to another place, but he does not agree with her intention.

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and mature thematic material, all involving children

User review:

A viewing of this film earlier tonight at the Chicago Film Festival was immediately followed, in my case, by a trip to a bathroom stall where I stared blankly at a wall for fifteen minutes amidst a state of pure, and surprisingly prolonged, emotional helplessness. Prior to this evening, Schindler’s List, Life is Beautiful and a select handful of others comprised my elite list of unforgettable films that fearlessly tackle the ambivalent, or at least paradoxical, human condition by managing to straddle the inherent injustice and the unfettered hope of perseverance, but Turtles Can Fly now ranks above all others. Despite frequenting this website for years, I have never been previously inspired to comment on anything.

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Writer: Bahman Ghobadi
Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal
Country: Iran | France | Iraq
Language: Kurdish | Arabic | English
Release Date: 23 February 2005 (France)
Also Known As: Turtles Can Fly
Filming Locations: Kurdistan, Iraq