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"TURTLES Can Fly" by the brilliant Iranian Kurd
direc tor-writer Bahman Ghobadi, has been winning
prizes left and right on the festival circuit.
Now it arrives in New York, where it belongs on
movie lovers' must-see list.
The setting is a Kurdish village in Iraq on the eve
of the U.S.-led invasion.
But this isn't a war movie. Rather, it's a powerful,
heart-tugging portrait of the innocent victims of
conflict.
In no uncertain terms, it depicts the hardships
faced by a band of refugee children — many missing
limbs — who earn money digging up land mines and
selling them in a nearby market, where weapons of
all sorts are readily available.
(One armless boy uses his teeth to pluck a mine from
the rocky ground.)
The kids are led by a 13-year-old known as Satellite
(a fabulous Soran Ebrahim) because he provides
anxious villagers with TV dishes so they can watch
the latest
Although the same age as many of his followers,
Satellite — who gets about on a souped-up bike — has
become a father figure.
The cast is made up of non-professionals — actual
refugees — who give stunning performances.
"The reality is very, very hard and difficult,"
Ghobadi told one festival audience. "Many times we
were shooting and had to stop to cry."
"Turtles Can Fly" continues Ghobadi's string of
hits, following "A Time for Drunken Horses" and
"Marooned in Iraq," both of which had theatrical
runs in New York.
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