Makes you cry unwantingly..
Someone once said, the heart has its reasons, that reason doesn't understand.
Days pass, the routine, the drudgery. The tiredness. You know life is hard. But there’s movies that we take cover under. Escape from reality and all that. But when we decide to see a movie. We are so particular about it, we want to know the cast. We want to know if it was a hit. We sometimes wait for recommendations. A colleague of mine refused to part with this DVD, despite my begging. I was recommended this movie by spdalkar :) Thank you so much for the recommendation. I am glad I saw this one.( Turtles can fly)
Many of us take our lives for granted. We wake up in the mornings stretching a little and a smile carves our faces as the dawn breaks. It’s amazing how we ask our parents for things we desire for expecting to be surprised by them in some time or the other. It’s really something, when we are disappointed by things when they don’t go our way. Something really trivial can break our hearts into two pieces. Spoilt brats right?....but sometimes you see a movie that changes you, like a book changes some lives for an ever.This would probably fit that category.
I saw this movie.Turtles can Fly( Libearation of death)
A movie that tells a story, a story about the children on the Turk-Kurdish border. I can bet you don’t even know where that is. That’s probably because we are so satisfied with our lives. We have just simply stopped caring. We are hankering to secure our lives for the future, that we don’t really bother what happens to any person, even if he is lying on the side of the road squealing for help. Why would we care what the people are going through in other countries? But it is a sad state of things. It really is. We won’t even tell the person off if he spits in front of us, if the government doesn’t care, why should you? It’s the government employees who do most of the spitting, so who’s going to get this country to stop the mess that's going on? There are some things that are beginning to disrupt. I have seen some incidences where people are put in their place, and some even have had the courage to stand up in situations. The times are changing.Maybe we are standing up for what we believe is right.
This movie is about humanity. It’s about the life of refugees. And when you see a movie like this you can’t help but wonder is there any way to help them? It makes you think. Really.
Satellite, that’s what the village calls Soran, because he is good at installation of antennaes at the borders for the Kurdish families who can then watch news and get Soran to interpret it for them. He is the leader of the pack of children, the Kurdish refugees who live at the border, some of whom have lost their limbs to the mines and their parents to the war. It’s heartening how Satellite brings these children together and makes them hunt for mines to earn money for their daily food. And incidentally, Satellite falls for a girl..and so the story takes off.
What was more poignant was, how the beautiful panaromic place was transformed and blotted with marks of war, with mines, with shells, quite like Kashmir. It’s heartening to see children take their handicap state in their stride. Children always surprise you right?
The movie was very earnest. The voice of Satellite still reverberates in my ears. His willingness in taking up an authoritative role. His confidence in dealing with a situation. Making people happy. His loyal followers. Shirkoh, his right hand, is the most adorable child you’ve seen. So earnest, his undying loyalty to satellite is so admirable. It tugs at your heart and you want to stop those tears. But you can’t stop them. You just let them go. Like a river. Like the emotions of a child. If this movie wanted to be a cliché, it would have. But the children are helplessly handicap, and the director is not forcing the brutality on us, he is merely showing us things that a blockbuster wouldn’t show. He shows us why the armless refugee has to work at the mines. They are not afraid you see. They’ve seen the war, they’ve lost thier legs, their parents, so now what's left? A spirit that knows only how to live.
Oh god, they’ve lost their childhood.
Sometimes, I wonder, how I crib about when the tea isn’t made right. Sometimes, empathy is all you’ve have left. Maybe that’s the only advantage we have as humans. The only advantage we exploit so much, that it becomes the most regrettable fact in our life.
In the eyes of a refugee girl you can see the hundred atrocities lashed and the grief in one single still shot, you see the willingness of children to get on with their lives, you see that love blossoms like a shrub in concrete, you are just amazed by things you won't see in a hit hindi movie.Sometimes it's nice to look at your heart, all bare, beating with empathy for those who you've never even met. Incidentally, the children acting in the movie are refugeees themselves, so you wouldn't term it acting.The movie was the first movie to be made after the fall of Saddam in Iraq. Like Majid Majidi(Children of Heaven, Colour of Paradise), Bahman Ghobadi is one of the directors you should keep a look out for.
We’ve seen Children of Heaven, we’ve seen the Kite runner. But this one is something else altogether. It makes you lose sleep, I did. It’s hurting. You’ll never forget this movie. Never. You’ll only recommend it to those you know who get you, coz it’s like sharing something where your emotion is not made fun of. Where crying and talking are done in the same breath. Some stories are forever. I told myself that I’ll do something for those who died because of mines. I’m in advertising, I can reach out. When you see this movie, don’t just sit there…do something about it.
Thanks for reading! :)
