On Sunday, a Kurdish movie ‘Turtles Can Fly’ was screened at Abhirang Auditorium, Bharat Bhavan. The movie was released in the year 2004 worldwide with duration of 95 minutes.
The movie directed by a noted Kurdish Iranian film director Bahman Ghobadi starring Soran Ebrahim and Avaz latif. While talking to The Pioneer, incharge of Chhavi series of classical cinema, Narendra Rai said, “It is one of the best Kurdish movies ever made and moreover, it was the first movie to be shot at Iran after the fall of Saddam Hussein. This movie connects the audiences with the struggle of Iranians at Kurdish during the USA invasion of Iraq.”
The film was set in a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border and the story revolves around 13-year-old Satellite (Soran Ebrahim), who is known for the installation of dishes and antennae in local villages that are looking for news of Saddam Hussein. Satellite is dynamic, but manipulative leader of the children, organising the dangerous but necessary sweeping and clearing of the minefields.
The industrious Satellite arranges trade-ins for unexploded mines. He befriends an orphan named Agrin (Avaz latif), a sad-faced girl traveling with her disabled, brother Hengov, who appears to have the gift of clairvoyance, making people think he can predict the future.
Significantly, the film does not show about what happens to ‘Satellite’ after the Americans finally land in their refugee camp. Some critics believe that the film reflects the true sentiment of Iraqi Kurds, many of whom suffered greatly under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.
Though the movie was screened in its original language ‘Kurdish’ but had the subtitles in English for the audience to understand. The movie was loved by the audiences. Weekly film screening is evoking a positive response and people are taking pleasure to enjoy the classic movies of different genres being screened there.