Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Turtles Can Fly
Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 84 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by: Bahman Ghobadi
Directed by: Bahman Ghobadi
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 18, 2005
DVD: September 20, 2005
Running Time: 98 minutes, Color
Origin: Iran / Iraq
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Soran Ebrahim, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Avaz Latif, and Hiresh Feysal Rahman
This third feature from internationally acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi is set in his native Kurdistan on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq. The devastation to this land and its inhabitants is revealed in the matter-of-fact perspective of the children and is equally displayed with every poignant detail of its unbearable nature. (IFC Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Time for Drunken Horses Half Moon Marooned in Iraq
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Superb acting and authentic details energize this rare Iran/Iraq coproduction.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
This isn't a war movie. Rather, it's a powerful, heart-tugging portrait of the innocent victims of conflict.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Turtles Can Fly, is masterly: it courses before us with grace, a control that paradoxically bespeaks love and anger.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It is about the actual lives of refugees, who lack the luxury of opinions because they are preoccupied with staying alive in a world that has no place for them.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's a soaring achievement, without ever leaving the ground.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Ghobadi shows us a world where a village pond can hold both rare goldfish and unforgivable evil, and where every step is onto booby-trapped terrain.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
One of the most heartbreaking, unforgettable dramas in years.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Although Turtles Can Fly is a lyrical, often lovely film with touches of humor, it's also a remorseless tragedy that doesn't offer its child protagonists any false redemption.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
Turtles Can Fly has little space for mawkishness, and the kids are far too cussed to be cute. It is, in every sense, the more immediate achievement: it hits and hurts the eyes (the rainy days are lousy enough, but the skies of royal blue, above such grief, feel especially insulting), and it also seems to bleed straight out of the headlines.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
Ghobadi in this pic displays a complete command of his art as he shifts between -- and even blends -- wrenching tragedy and amusing comedy.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly David Chute
Ghobadi's genius seems supercharged rather than weighed down by his higher calling, and his imagery is so boilingly alive that we come away from it feeling exhilarated rather than depressed.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
It is a heartbreaking film, and cruelty sometimes seems to be not only its subject but its method. Like the child on a high cliff that is one of its recurring images, the film walks up to the edge of hopelessness and pauses there, waiting to see what happens next.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
By the end, Turtles Can Fly becomes a lyrical and heartbreaking reminder of the human toll of war.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Offers a sometimes lyrical, sometimes gut-turning portrait of war seen through the eyes of children.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
All of the actors in Turtles Can Fly are nonprofessionals, and all bring electrifying authenticity and presence to their roles.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jim Healy
There's no denying his (Ghobadi's) talent for suspense or his ability to get riveting performances from nonprofessionals.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Amid the muddy scrubbery of the camp and its hinterland surroundings, Ghobadi catches some striking compositions.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Turtles Can Fly creates a haunting reminder that collateral damage can't always be measured in casualty rates, and that it goes on long after the news cameras have left the scene.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Ghobadi uses the lack of resources and the surfeit of drama that had been the lot of the Kurds throughout Hussein's dictatorship and both Gulf wars much in the way De Sica and Rossellini used the European tragedies of the '30s and '40s,
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Ghobadi has little use for sentimentality, and never flinches from the fate of these children.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A cry of anguish for the youngest victims of every war.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Not everything here is that vivid or uncluttered. Sometimes, the film betrays the circumstances of its making, shot hastily on location in Iraq after the fall of Saddam just as the extended conflict was beginning.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
There's no refuge in this uncomfortably realistic movie, and that is its strength.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
A well-made but harrowing and extremely downbeat coming-of-age drama.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
What keeps the picture alive is Ghobadi's surprising, often explosive grasp of visual farce.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Staff (Not credited)
Lacks grace, coherence, and a surface vivid enough to make it an alarm that many will hear.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 84 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
T L gave it a10:
An amazing film. Very well directed- I had to watch every minute. I don't think I would want to watch it again. It is disturbing and raw. One is affected, it isn't something one forgets about. Days later you're still pondering the possibilities. I don't think most Americans (outside of the US armed forces) have any idea of the impact of war in the Middle East. This film humanizes war, but is not preachy or overly political. The children are fantastic actors. I adored the child who was so faithful to Sattelite, who always got slapped by the elders. I felt that the ending gave you some hope, just to snatch it away five minutes later. It left me emotionally drained.
Saurabh J gave it a7:
True that we can hardly imagine the effects of war on children. But I still find it very very hard to believe that a girl about 13-14 years old would kill a child and commit suicide afterward because of the pain of it all. I cannot deny that the war makes children age much faster. But it is like watching a 13 year old with a middle aged person's mind. Even after considering the horrors in Agrin's past, it is difficult to believe that she would react the way she does in the movie, especially her attitude towards the toddler. Besides, Hengov's clairvoyance introduces a supernatural element into the film. His role has no real significance and no rational explanation. For example, he sees the toddler's death in his dreams, but does not see his own sister committing suicide. Feels like some of the scenes are made with the only intention of making the audience cry. Like when Agrin leaves the toddler tied to a tree in the minefield. Despite of these shortcomings, it is an honest attempt to show the tragedy of war, especially from the point of view of children. Some of the acting performances are too good. Well worth watching.
Esteban F. gave it an8:
Hate it and love it at the same time. It is greatly done, but it is so shocking, so brutally disturbing that I would never, EVER see it again. It stays in your mind for days, even weeks, and you may even shake every time you remember its ending.
Sheila E. gave it a10:
I found this movie to be so very tragic. and so very true to life , the children where great in it. the director knows his stuff.(you big movie tycoons need to give this cat a chance)
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Intelligent, articulate and exquisitely somber. This movie shows a sad product of war: orphans and how entire societies lose future productivity thanks to personal mines.
Will H gave it a10:
I hate this film, it depressing, makes me feel powerless and reminds me that life is not inherently fare or nice. The ending leaves you without hope and never wanting to watch it again. Having said that it is a great piece of film making with amazing acting from a cast of mostly (untrained) children which everyone should see once. If this review sounds schizophrenic that is because of how the film leaves you feeling, I was amazed by the power and honesty of emotion these children produced and scared that it was only a film. It reminds you that pain, suffering and death is always happening even if we choose not to see it. A Note about Tesuque comment: I'd agree that the movie has a "faint undertone of hope" but by the end it's been completely crushed and that is the great tragedy.
Mario A. G. gave it a10:
The movie carry you to the awful truth, the invasion to a country or the war are simple horrible. The production is one of the best that I ever see.
