lileonhirth Turtles Can Fly is a film about a ton of refugee kids living in Iraq. These kids work extremely hard every single day. The main character Astrin was abused, raped, and had at kid at the age of 13. Astrin spends her time with her armless brother Hengov and her baby Riga. Throughout this film it is very obvious to see that Astrin struggles with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. One of the older kids Satellite organizes children into work gangs, and sells mines to dealers. Satellite falls in love with Agrin and tries his hardest to make her happy. Agrin is traumatized throughout the whole film because her parents were killed and she was rapped. Agrin does not live her life because all she can think about is her past. I did not enjoy watching this film because it carried a lot of depressing content. This film was very interesting because it showed a new perspective about the kids in Iraq. I was very interested in how hard the children work to try and make money. Although I did not enjoy watching this film, I would recommend this film to someone who is interested about the history in Iraq. A normal day for children in Iraq is extremely different to a normal day in the United States.

Lily Schneider Turtles Can Fly, a film directed by Bahman Ghobadi, was a very eye-opening film in that the audience could really feel true feelings from the characters. Taking place in a Kurdish refugee camp in Iraq, these many children live their ordinary lives while also preparing for the invasion of their country from the United States. I found this film to be very informative, but also very entertaining, despite all the dark elements within it.

olrovin This movie was yet another international film that really helped open my eyes to the viewpoints of others in a completely different culture. Living in America, I have always heard and learned about the Iraq war(s) from our perspective so it was very interesting to see it from the perspective of a minority group, the Kurds, who were being directly affected by the war and chaos occurring in their country. Along with being eye opening, this movie was also devastating to watch. The ending made me cry but the whole film was bordering on the edge of making you smile and making you sob. The character called Satellite was probably my favorite because of his concern for all the other children and the way he seemed so positive and optimistic. His love for Agrin was endearing and adorable and definitely added a silver lining to the whole film. His character definitely made me smile; however, when you look at the whole picture of all these orphan children with lost/distorted limbs because they spend their days digging up land mines to make money, it's really enough to make you sob. Overall, I would give this film a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I liked it a lot, but the sadness and horror definitely made me hate some parts of it just because of the pure raw emotion they created. I definitely think this is an important film for Americans of this time to see especially because of our fairly recent constant presence in Iraq.

alexdeleonfilm TURTLES CAN FLY, Viewed at the the 2004 San Sebastian film festival, September 2006. At a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border, a boy nicknamed "Satellite" is the leader of the kids. Their job is to clear and collect undetonated mines in the fields to sell them in the street market and he installs antennas for the TV sets in village."Turtles Can Fly" is an extremely powerful film by Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi. The title is a bit misleading because, though a turtle does appear for about two seconds near the end, the subject is the abject misery of pitiful war orphans, Kurdish Children, some of them badly mutilated, in a squalid tent camp on the Turkish border where they are fleeing from Sadam's persecution on the eve of the American Invasion. The running time is only 95 minutes but it felt more like 95 hours watching the unbearable suffering and incredible resilience of these beautiful kids, growing up much too fast as victims of war in a situation where death is the common denominator and survival all that really matters. The central figure, a teenage boy, is called "Kak Satellite" because he is a provider of satellite TV sets and acts as a part time interpreter of CNN for the adults, although his English is so limited that his interpretations are mostly imagination. "The Americans are coming any day" is a message of hope he repeats over and over again, but the whole area is sewn with minefields and sudden death lurks at every turn. One of the kids is armless but fights with his head to protect his little sister who is, incidentally, an incredibly beautiful child of eleven with the face of a mature movie star, and has already been raped by marauding Iraqi soldiers. The Americans finally arrive, but whether this will only bring more death, destruction and misery is a very moot question. The film is beautifully shot and these kids are definitely not professional thespians but are rather living out their reality before the cameras. Ghobadi, who is a master at handling kids, gave them a few basic ideas and told them to run with it. The story they "made up" is composed of such grim realities that it is almost too disconcerting to sit through, while at the same time brilliantly engaging. If this one doesn't take the big prize tomorrow, I for one, will be very much surprised.Ps: It won the Concha de Oro palmarès hands down by unanimous jury decision.