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'Half Moon' tracks the travails of Kurdish musicians |
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'Half Moon' tracks the travails of Kurdish
musicians
29.8.2007
Movie Review |
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August 29, 2007
The Kurds may not yet have a country, but as long as
Bahman Ghobadi keeps making movies they have a
national cinema.
The Kurdish Iranian-born director came to prominence
with 2000's "A Time for Drunken Horses" and followed
through with 2004's breathtaking "Turtles Can Fly,"
set in an Iraqi refugee camp on the eve of the US
invasion.
With "Half Moon," Ghobadi's knack for turning
statelessness into dark comic poetry continues. Like
2002's "Marooned in Iraq," this one has a musical
bent -- the soundtrack is glorious -- and it follows
the travels of a troupe that just wants a place
where it can perform. If only it were that easy.
The central character is Mamo (Ismail Ghaffari) an
aging musician and full-fledged pop star to the
Kurds of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Hired to play a
concert in Iraq -- the first by Kurdish musicians
since the fall of Saddam, he boasts -- Mamo decides
to treat it as a farewell performance.
He calls in his 10 musician sons to back him up.
Some are eager, others reluctant, still others seem
more frail than their father. Still, they dutifully
file onto a borrowed bus driven by the boisterous
Kako (Allah Morad Rashtiani), who's taking a leave
from his duties officiating at cockfights.
"Half Moon" mines cultural dissonance for laughs:
cellphones are packed next to ancient string
instruments, aged villagers have Yahoo e-mail
accounts, and when the troupe has to improvise
another way across the border, one of Mamo's sons
pulls out a laptop for a look at an online map
(apparently the Wi-Fi is pretty good out there in
the Zagros Mountains).
Yet all the high tech proves useless against the
stubborn absurdities of governments. Since Iranian
women aren't allowed to perform in public, Mamo
tries sneaking a singer (Hedieh Tehrani) into Iraq,
hiding her under the floorboards when the border
police search the bus. Ghobadi's gift for shaggy
magical realism is given full scope during a visit
to a village of 1,330 exiled women singers: They
stand on rooftops and serenade the musicians en
masse. It's an unforgettable sight. |
Half Moon follows a troupe of Kurdish musicians who
just want a place where they can perform. (Bahman
Ghobadi)
The famous Kurdish director Bahman Ghobadi.
Half Moon, Winner of the 2006 Inspiration Award at
Mountain film in Telluride, and the Award at the
2004 Maui Film Festival. |
Another border crossing is foiled by a US firefight
-- the soldiers are hidden, but the bullets are
flying -- while a third attempt unravels when the
woman performer lights out for parts unknown.
"Wherever I go in Kurdistan, I will find instruments
and a singer," insists Mamo, but he and we slowly
realize that time is running out in every sense.
"Half Moon" takes a turn for the almost entirely
metaphorical toward the end, with the appearance of
the title character (Golshifteh Farahani), a
stunningly beautiful young woman who vows to get
Mamo to the stage on time. Is she an angel? Is she
the soul of Kurdistan? While it's never clear, the
movie suggests that even angels might have their
limitations when it comes to earthly politics. "Half
Moon" is a jaunty tune that turns minor-key. What
begins as human comedy gradually unravels until it
can only be called human tragedy.
boston com
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