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Turtles Can't Fly

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    Turtles Can't Fly

    Anybody seen this?

    (The title of the copy I saw was the negative, so that's how it's staying in the thread title...)

    Absolutely devastating portrayal of war, and this war, acted almost entirely by actual refugee kids. It's set on the Iraqi-Turkish border, and is beautifully shot and completely heart-rending.

    The film producer I saw it with noted that it is almost impossible to shoot with non-professional kids; virtually all the cast fell into that category, yet the performances were completely convincing. Great, great film.

    #2
    Turtles Can't Fly

    I haveb't seen it- but I did see A TIme of Drunken Horses - by the same director- stupendous

    I'd disagree with your producer friend, though. Cinema is full of wonderful performances by non-professional children.

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      #3
      Turtles Can't Fly

      The film title is definitely in the positive, for what it's worth.

      I found this movie far too relentlessly bleak. There is no variation in tone--it's just dark from start to finish, which left me kind of numb. A Kurdish-Iranian teacher of mine also says she is not a fan of Ghobadi's films, as she finds them too unpleasant.

      Speaking of working with non-professional actors, I saw an interview with Ghobadi where he talked about the culture clash that comes with using amateurs. I can't remember the story exactly, but he said that he was trying to convince a villager to play a role in one of his movies, and the villager couldn't understand why it would take more than a day to shoot. After all, movies are only like two hours long, so why would you need more than 24 hours to make one?

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        #4
        Turtles Can't Fly

        Soccer Scrimmage wrote:
        The film title is definitely in the positive, for what it's worth.
        Very possibly. Drink had been taken.

        I found this movie far too relentlessly bleak. There is no variation in tone--it's just dark from start to finish, which left me kind of numb.
        Seriously? I thought - for a film dealing with such a grim plot - there was an astounding degree of ongoing hilarity. Soran's clumsiness around the girl, his brashness elsewhere ("renting" the machine-guns), his sidekicks... one-tonedness (insofar as that implies lacking levity) is the last thing I'd accuse it of. And I thought the leavening of the gritty realist stuff with childish fantasy worked beautfully as well.

        I mean SPOILERS FOLLOW you're saying a film in which (a) [a 12-year-old girl is gang-raped by soldiers] and (b) [the village elders have all the children carry a bicycle over the mud to its adolescent owner to persuade him to translate the news] lacks variation in tone? I think thast's bonkers, frankly.

        Speaking of working with non-professional actors, I saw an interview with Ghobadi where he talked about the culture clash that comes with using amateurs. I can't remember the story exactly, but he said that he was trying to convince a villager to play a role in one of his movies, and the villager couldn't understand why it would take more than a day to shoot. After all, movies are only like two hours long, so why would you need more than 24 hours to make one?[/quote]

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