Turtles Can Fly

Turtles Can Fly is a beautiful depiction of the trial and tribulation faced by children in wartime Iraq. The blend of day-to-day experiences common to people everywhere with the traumatic experience of war, faced by too many already gives rise to a very moving film. It is a glimpse into they eyes of humanity in the face of war.

Director/writer Bahman Ghobadi creates very unique mise-en-scene in order to portray to the audience the hellish bleakness of pre-war and wartime Iraq. He truly showed how harsh of a world the Kurdish refugee camps are and how post-apocalyptic the entire movie seems to be. The camera filters, the positions of the camera, the haunting pictures of the landscape, and even the silence come together to show a descriptive and devastating world.

The characters in Turtles Can Fly are rich with background, personality, and story. From Satellite, the protagonist who is the leader of his own private army of orphaned children, to Pashow, the clairvoyant and persistent and determined orphan boy, to Agrin, the grim, silent girl who's ultimate acts of desperation bring the film to a haunting close. The child actors are amazingly talented and they truly bring their characters to "life".

Turtles Can Fly is one of the few movies that I can say with confidence, has two separate emotional levels. There is a shallow emotional layer that is much lighter and heart-warming, then there is a much deeper, depressing and saddening layer. The contrast between these two layers of emotion has been balanced beautifully. The children are perfectly suited for the acting roles they play (since they are basically playing themselves) and for the most part, all they have to do is be children. They must play and interact with each other in the same way children do. This is primarily what makes up the lighter, shallower emotional layer. But then, the children must also be exposed to wartime horrors that quite simply, wrench their young innocence away from them as a rapist would torture a virgin. It is deeply horrifying and depressing on an emotional level that I have rarely seen in American films. Loss of innocence seems to be a continuous theme throughout the movie and the audience is constantly reminded of this theme by scenes displaying things that most children are never faced with in their lives.

Another persistent theme is the emotional helplessness faced by the orphans. Theirs is a constant and conflicting emotional roller coaster. The children are at heart, children, but in mind, they are survivors. The contrast from these separate roles is exquisite and in a way, haunting.

By Blair Kim

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The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, directed by Romanian Cristi Puiu, is a film that follows a man during the last night of his life. The main character, Mr. Lazarescu, becomes ill and voyages around Bucharest hoping to receive medical attention. He is taken to different hospitals around the city, but no doctor will admit him. His only companion is a nurse who stays with him throughout the night.

The movie did not appeal to me at all. I feel that all a viewer needs of this movie is ten minutes somewhere in the middle of it. With that, he or she can fully grasp the meaning of the film and come away with just as much as I did after sitting through it for two-and-a-half hours. The film did not have dynamic characters with whom I could connect, nor a varying plot line with which I could be intrigued. I felt myself praying, every time Mr. Lazarescu fell asleep or did not immediately respond to another character, that he had died just so that the film would end. Although I understand how it brought a dynamic to the film, I could not enjoy the documentary-style filming, which frustrated me from the beginning. I cannot comprehend how this film received awards of any kind. Despite the redundant characters and missing plot line, the film could have been saved by a captivating finale. However, once again, it disappointed viewers and left us saying, "Wait... that's it?!?!"

Scott says in his essay that he and Puiu "stumbled into a friendly quarrel over the idea that anyone's life has ever really been changed by a book or film." The point of a book or film is to change lives. The audience should always come away from a well-done work feeling changed in some way. Good books and movies can spark us to make a bold move, or change our stubborn minds, or let us know that there are others out there like us. For this sole reason, people keep coming back to books and movies, even after a particularly horrible one- we want to be inspired, changed, or healed. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu leaves audiences feeling nothing, except maybe confused. This is a movie that can be forgotten, amidst so many that never will be.

by: Lauren Hamilton

Joint Security Area

Chan-wook Park’s film Joint Security Area is a mystery-thriller set in the city of Panmunjeom straddling the demarcation line between North and South Korea. Two North Korean soldiers have been killed, and a South Korean soldier was found limping across the “bridge of no return” back into South Korea. A Swedish Neutral Nations investigator with a Korean background accompanied by a Swiss investigator has been assigned the case of determining the real reason behind the murders.

This film shows the effects of globalization as well as addresses local issues. First, the investigation is headed by two foreigners. The first officer they meet is German. Clearly, South Korea has been greatly influenced by the Neutral Nations because they are technically still at war with North Korea. Another international aspect of the film is that the South Korean soldiers use American lighters, listen to American music, and eat American foods. The murder weapon, a Beretta pistol, is made in Italy. North Korea, however, shuns products that are not developed in the country. The film also addresses the local issues pertaining to the war between the two nations. It shows the strong tension between the two countries by the way the enemies stand guard feet from each other never crossing the demarcation line. Even the insides of the buildings are divided by the line. An innocent South Korean soldier crosses the line into the North, but when he asks a North Korean soldier if he would ever cross into the South, he is offended and stubbornly expresses his opinion of how much greater the North is.

While the film addresses a topic specific to Korea, the film shows globalization in South Korea and a lack of globalization in the North. To call this film strictly an international movie would be an overstatement. It is a local film that shows the contrasting cultures of North and South Korea. South Korea happens to be a county affected by globalization and North Korea not very much.

Brian Forsyth

Nine Queens

“Nine Queens” is an Argentinean film that portrays many of the global trends of modern film. The contrast between the haves and have-nots is clearly portrayed in this film. Some may even suggest the presence of a class system, based on the contrast between the two main characters and the rich man who buys their stamps, Vidal Gandolfo. Starting from the beginning of the film, the gas station shows how global economies have grown. The items stocked in the gas station convenience store are universally recognizable products, such as Coca-Cola and whatnot. The costuming and make up in this film hints at the economic situations of the characters, with the main characters dress modestly and the hotel workers and guests dressed more elaborately. The make up helps reinforce the image that the main character is a “nice guy”; his face is kept perpetually clean and ruddy. The plot within the plot is a setting within a setting. You could say that the mise en scene of the outer plot was actually what was going on in the film. The title of the movie is a bit misleading, in that you expect something more regal. The characters, however, are all working class.
The themes presented in this movie are universally relatable. Morals that our parents helped us establish, like “stealing is wrong” or “do onto others what you would have them do onto you.” Contrary to American heist films, there wasn’t as much action; “Nine Queens” leads us to believe that heists aren’t all about violence. The main character’s tricks are all mind tricks and sleight of hand. You can go through and identify the psychological elements being used. The actors are acting within the movie and constantly pulling mind tricks on one another. In the end we see the establishment of the romantic ideals of the western world surface. “The good guy always wins.”