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| Turtles Can Fly | 
 enlarge | Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Actors: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdol Rahman Karim
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $5.66
You Save: $14.32 (72%)
New (38) Used (16) from $5.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  45 reviews
Sales Rank: 13269
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Kurdish (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 98
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: MGMD1008866D
ISBN: 0792867416
UPC: 027616928559
EAN: 9780792867418
ASIN: B000A7LR82
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
Release Date: September 20, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Soran is a 13 year old boy who orders other children around as he installs an anennae for villagers keen to hear of saddams fall. Eventually he falls for agrin but is disturbed by her brother henkov who was left armless after he stepped on a landmine & who can now seemingly predict the future Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Amazon.com
Too few films capture war from the point of view of the children who endure it--perhaps because it's awful to contemplate. But Turtles Can Fly manages to be both heartbreaking and galvanizing in its depiction of young Iraqis waiting for the U.S. Army to roll over their village on the border of Turkey. A boy called Satellite (Soran Ebrahim), so called because he knows how to hook up a satellite dish, divides his time turning himself into a big operator--he commands a small army of children who search the fields for land mines they can sell to the U.N.--and wooing a pretty but haunted girl named Agrin (Avaz Latif) whose brother has no arms but can see the future. Satellite's mixture of scheming and genuine compassion drives the movie forward; it's impossible not to become engrossed in his courage and ambition, even as the world crumbles around him. Since the U.S. has linked its fate with that troubled country, learning a little about the Iraqi people would be good for everyone involved; fortunately, Turtles Can Fly is more than just an educational opportunity. Rich humor helps balance the harrowing circumstances, making the movie a riveting experience. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 A World Away January 4, 2009
From start to finish, this movie shows a world that only a handful of Americans have ever been exposed to, personally or in film. The tragedy of war is shown from a refugee-child's perspective, and depicts a world of homelessness, filth and survival by whatever means available.
Imagine, for instance, that the only means of income was to send your children into a minefield and gather mines for sale in the marketplace. Image your child trading these mines for guns in order to defend the camp.
Revealed in this wonderful movie is the innocence of a child lost, the daily challenge to stay alive and the absence of food, potable water and a way to stay clean, even to a minimum.
The overriding message is one of hopelessness. These children have the where-to-all to survive, they have intelligence and motivation, but they have no hope because they have zero opportunity. And when the US troops finally arrive, I was left with the question, "Did their arrival make a difference?" I don't know. But what I do know is that we can learn a lot from these children about life, about survival and about hope. For when we see hopelessness, they can can clearly see a glimmer of hope.
 Vivid reality December 1, 2008
This was a wonderful movie. Most of us have an abstract, vague idea of the miserable and inhumane conditions endured by Kurdish (and other)children left abandoned/orphaned because of the war. This movie opens up a curtain into the reality of their lives. It is sad, compelling and well done.
Humanity Without boundaries May 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Awesome movie. Incredible 'humaness' in the face of menacing forces. Human forces nurtured from kids to adulthood. I recommend this movie and aAli Soua about street kids in Moroccco. My 8 year also enjoyed this movie immesenly, few months after viewing it she stills once in awhile talks about it... particularly about the little girl... Powerful
Yes, even Turtles Can Fly April 21, 2008
The title TURTLES CAN FLY is actually a metaphor for the film. They, the children (and presumably the Kurdish people), are like the turtle, struggling to navigate and rise above a sea of adversities, namely their surroundings and circumstances. In this case, they are refugees on the Turkish-Iraqi border eking out a living to gather and sell scrap military equipment, namely landmines.
While watching Bahman Ghobad's film TURTLES CAN FLY I kept thinking how gutsy and enterprising the children were amidst their desperate condition. Their light humour and camaraderie gave me the impression they would prevail amidst their trials and tribulations, although it would not be an easy task.
Throughout the film you feel the Kurdish people's nomadic existence. In particular, you feel Agrin's (Avaz Latif) lost innocence from a gang rape by Iraqi soldiers in Halabche, her antipathy for the child born of this crime and her futility to care for her blind child in a culture that has perhaps cast her out. You feel Henkov's (Hiresh Feysal Rahman) nobility to hold the family together, to protect his sister's honour and the life of the child, even though he is physically handicapped. You feel Satellite's (Soran Ebrahim) love for and loss of Agrin and the child, as well as his own uncertainty of the future at the end of the film.
Surprising, there are no heroes in this film: not the children, not the village elders, not the black-marketers, not the American army. The story unfolds as a documentary, revealing events as they more or less happen, while weaving a subtle moral tale within it.
Like the neorealist director Roberto Rossellini's post-WWII film Germany Year Zero (1947), TURTLES CAN FLY explores how warmongers destroy and corrupt lives; how humanity struggles in the aftermath of war and displacement; and how some die as a result, yet how humanity as a whole rises to the challenge though it is immensely difficult.
Extremely powerful film April 5, 2008
"I didn't watch this because it won all those awards. I watched it because Michael LaRocca recommended it."
These are words you'll never hear. And yet, I do have to throw my voice into this chorus and say it's humorous and tragic, for a powerfully moving film that you won't forget. I'm putting it over there on that little shelf of DVDs that I call "keepers."
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