Turtles Can Fly

A tragic yet bittersweet, simple yet spellbinding slice of life's uncertainty, this third film by Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (Marooned in Iraq, A Time for Drunken Horses) is set in rugged, windswept Northern Iraq in March 2003, a historical moment in which the coming American invasion is only the latest challenge to Kurdish fortitude. The film envelops the viewer completely in its chronicling of the scrappy existence of a 13-year-old orphan (Soran Ebrahim) who thoroughly enjoys the sway he holds as the only local who knows how to acquire and install satellite dishes to bring television news (which he also pretends to translate) to his cluster of villages. Bahman captures the war-torn psyches of his young characters beautifully--none more so than a quiet, outwardly impassive, inwardly traumatized girl (Avaz Latif) suffering from flashbacks of an Iraqi attack on her family that left her emotionally scarred and saddled with caring for a half-blind three-year-old. Full of poignant, earnest performances of melancholy people living in a desolate landscape, Turtles Can Fly also boasts a sense of humanity, humor, and hope that springs from the practiced perseverance of the Kurdish people. An unpretentious, understated tour de force of Middle Eastern cinema, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Blackwelder)