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Turtles Can Fly
IFC Films

Turtles Can Fly reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 85 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.4 out of 10
based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 80 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA 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)


GENRE(S): Drama  |  Foreign  
WRITTEN BY: Bahman Ghobadi  
DIRECTED BY: Bahman Ghobadi  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: September 20, 2005 
Theatrical: February 18, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Iran / Iraq 
LANGUAGE(S): Kurdish (with English subtitles) 

Original title "Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand"

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...

100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Superb acting and authentic details energize this rare Iran/Iraq coproduction.
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100
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.
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100
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Turtles Can Fly, is masterly: it courses before us with grace, a control that paradoxically bespeaks love and anger.
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100
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.
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100
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's a soaring achievement, without ever leaving the ground.
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100
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.
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100
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
One of the most heartbreaking, unforgettable dramas in years.
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90
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
90
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.
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90
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
90
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.
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90
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.
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88
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
By the end, Turtles Can Fly becomes a lyrical and heartbreaking reminder of the human toll of war.
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88
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Offers a sometimes lyrical, sometimes gut-turning portrait of war seen through the eyes of children.
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88
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A beautiful, intensely moving film.
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80
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
80
Chicago Reader Jim Healy
There's no denying his (Ghobadi's) talent for suspense or his ability to get riveting performances from nonprofessionals.
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80
The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge
Heart-wrenching as well as spirit-raising.
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80
Village Voice Jessica Winter
Amid the muddy scrubbery of the camp and its hinterland surroundings, Ghobadi catches some striking compositions.
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80
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.
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80
Newsweek David Ansen
Powerful images hook you immediately.
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80
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,
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80
TV Guide Ken Fox
Ghobadi has little use for sentimentality, and never flinches from the fate of these children.
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80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A cry of anguish for the youngest victims of every war.
78
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
An emotional triumph.
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75
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.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Sad yet offering glimpses of hope.
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75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
There's no refuge in this uncomfortably realistic movie, and that is its strength.
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67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
A well-made but harrowing and extremely downbeat coming-of-age drama.
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63
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
What keeps the picture alive is Ghobadi's surprising, often explosive grasp of visual farce.
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42
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

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 80 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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.

Tesuque gave it a10:
Outsstanding movie. It offers an unflinching look at the tragedy of war--it is harsh and stark and sad--the kind of movie I sometimes cannot bring myself to watch. Yet this one captured me from the opening scene. It has wonderfully comic moments, and a faint undertone of hope that make it very powerful.

Dani C. gave it a9:
These children gave a very memorable performance! I just saw this movie last night on cable. Does anyone know if this won any awards? If not, it should have!

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