Turtles Can Fly
Set a few weeks before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, this film takes place on the Iraqi border refugee camp. It shows the struggle of a group of Kurdish children. The leader of the refugee camp’s children is known as Satellite (played by Soran Ebrahim). He is approximately 13 years of age. He is called Satellite because he helps the camp’s inhabitants with their TV antennas and because he helped to acquire a satellite to keep the people informed of the US plans for their country. Satellite the main character acquires the equipment the camp needs by trading in the land mines the children have cleared. He really cares for the orphaned children of the camp. Most of the children in the camp are orphans. Most have been crippled by the mines which they dig up to sell to the U.N.
The film’s slow beginning and the tendency of the child actors to yell at one another is annoying, but should not deter you from watching this great film. The actors are not professionals and include many local non-actor children. Notable performances are by: Pasheo a crippled boy with one good leg who has a great ability with crutches (played by Sadaam Hossein Feysal); Hangao (played by Hiresh Feysal Rahman); Hengov (played by Hiresh Feysal Rahman) who lost his arms to the land mines and has the ability to foresee the future; the mysterious girl Agrin (played by Avaz Latif); Rega (played by Abdol Rahman Karim) and adorable Shirkooh (played by Ajil Zibari) who cries a lot. He even cries for Satellite when he injures himself.
One day Satellite meets Henkov, an armless boy (Hirsh Feyssal) from a neighboring village and a landmine victim himself. Henkov is played superbly and is my favourite actor in the film. Satellite discovers that Henkov has ‘clairvoyant’ ability. This gift as well as his sister Agrin (Avaz Latif) interest Satellite. Henkov makes several predictions including an accidental explosion, the death of Riga and the coming of the US.
Agrin is a suicidal orphan girl whom Satellite tries to impress. Satellite is attracted to Agrin, and tries to impress her by carrying her water with the use of his bike, diving into a haunted pond to look for red fish, and telling her that he has been looking for a girl like her all his life. Agrin has terrible memories of her family’s death and is not interested in Satellite. The film later reveals that Agrin was raped by soldiers. She looks after her small blind child whom she does not love. Henkov and Agrin take care of a small baby boy called ‘Riga’ (played by Abdol Rahman Karim). The small child approximately 3–4 years old is adorable. The film has many emotional scenes. Agrin’s baby was very cute and its drowning by its mother was very emotional. The film was full of suspense. I found the scene of the baby walking into the mine-field particularly disturbing. I have personally seen what damage and injury landmines can cause people including children. All the children in the film are splendid. There is a large number of people involved in the film’s production.
A disturbing element of the film is to seeing all the maimed and injured children. The majority of the injuries are sustained from land mines. The film captures the horror of the refugees’ lives. It portrays the area of Kurdistan very well, with much discharged and damaged military hardware lying around in contrast with the rugged and inhospitable mountain ranges. The film comes close to showing us the full horror of landmines and mentions that the US produces them.
A humorous scene is when the camp’s elders are watching TV and one asks Satellite to interpret for them. No one speaks more than a few words in English so they do not know what is happening on the TV and were trying hard to avoid “forbidden” channels with Western-style advertisements including bikinis etc.
This is a film full of disturbing images like the unloading of shell cases when one accidentally explodes as predicted by Henkov; and Riga (the baby boy) lost with jets flying overhead and the children forced to work clearing minefields and selling mines in exchange for other weapons.
At the end of the film we see the US army arrive and Satellite and Pashow both injured by a landmine watch the US troops run past. At the end we see that after Hussein’s statue topples one boy brings Satellite the arm of Saddam. We also see American helicopters distributing fliers.
The Iranian filmmaker and director Bahman Ghobadi produced an excellent film. I recommend that you make the effort and watch the film. There appears to be no anti-American sentiment, nor are the US troops portrayed as liberators. This film unlike most portrays war from the children’s perspective. The film is neither pro nor anti war film but a realistic portrayal of the struggle of the Iraqi people.
Ron Hermann
