Keswick Film Club - Turtles Can Fly

Synopsis

Depicting the country before the 2003 western invasion, this is the first movie to come out of Iraq since the fall of Saddam. It's an amazing film, shot in an Iraqi refugee camp on the border with Turkey by Kurdish director Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses), in which we witness a handful of orphaned children and their efforts to survive the appalling conditions. Dedicated, according to Ghobadi, "to all the innocent children in the world - the casualties of the policies of dictators and fascists", Turtles Can Fly vividly immerses the viewer in the tough life of this makeshift community struggling with their landmine-ridden existence. A must-see.