Turtle Can Fly

Angus Xie, Honda Zhu, Julie Pan, Kent Lin, Vivien Yang, Zora Hsiang

OUTLINE• Introduction• Background

Information• Relation – Children• Symbols – Illusion• Film Technique• Extra Information• Q&A

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONZora

Background Information – Director

• Bahman Ghobadi• Kurdish Iranian filmmaker• Realtistic• Ethnic Minority – the Kurds

Background Information – Film

Iraq, Kurdistan, 2003 Invasion of Iraq

Iraq, Kurdistan

Kurdistan

• “The land of Kurds”• Plateau & Mountain• After WWI –

Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria• After Persian Golf War –

The Kurds

• Iranian, Sunni Muslim• Own Language and Culture• Kurdistan, Nomadic• After WWI –

promised to create Kurdistan as a countryOil found in territory →

The Kurds

• Early 20th Century: Nationalism• Oppressed, especially in Iraq and Turkey• Genocide in Iraq, Saddam Hussein –

* Iran-Iraq War: Halabja Poison Gas Attack* Persian Golf War – Kurdish Safe-Haven (Northern Iraq )

• * 1996 incursion into “Safe-haven”

RELATION – CHILDRENAngus & Honda

Society Formed By ChildrenRefugees Orphans

To Survive To Support Family

Cooperate with Each Other

Naturally Forms Micro Society Generates Power Relationship

Care

Trust

Responsibility

Care

Trust

Sympathy

Empathy

Love

Responsibility

Children – Power

• Satellite takes charge other children.

– Help them find jobs, survive.

• Others look up to him.

– Knowledge.– Satellite dish.

– Information.

How Children Survive

• Clear mine fields

• More crippled,

More expert

• Endless vicious circle– Mine would,

eventually,

GO OFF.

How Children Survive

• Clear artillery shells– 1 USD= 1169 IQD

• A dud might explode.

• Show the intensity of warfare.

• Knowing the extortion, to play or to die.

Children’s attitude

• Having fun in the most un-laughable situation.– Naiveness

– Optimism

• Comradeship– Support each other.

SYMBOL – ILLUSIONJulie & Vivien

Symbols comparison• Satellite

– Appearance

-Superior ability and knowledge

-Pro-American, media hegemony (the dish)

- The bike

• Red fish– The cure of blind eyes

Different meanings in China and Iran* Iran: one of the seven symbols of Nowruz , the Iranian New Yea* China: propitious/success

• Water (amniotic fluid/lake)

– The place where life starts and ends

• mine/tank/guns– The objects that ruin the Kurdish kids’ life– Exchanging mine for food– for dish– for guns– Satelitte living in a tank

• Agrin– The mother(the child/Kurdish)– Asking for leaving– Choosing suicide– Rejectin Satellite

• Ria- the weak connection between Iraq and Kurd

• Series of disappointments ILLUSIONS in regard to America’s image

1) USA mine: - Satellite get injured: collapse of optimism “You kept saying USA until you fell on USA mine.” - Broken bike

2) Red fish: fake appearance

Symbols as Illusion

Irony• Satellite: optimism1)1:00:13~1:00:50 American army: ‘It’s the end of injustice, misfortune and

hardship. We are your best friends and brothers. Those against us are our enemies. We will make this country a paradise. We are here to take away your sorrows. We are the best in the world.’

Juxtaposition: people on the hill, Hengov and the child - America: fallacy and hype - Kurdish people: causalities

2) 1:29:45~1:31:00 Satellite walks away without saying any words when the American army arrive

3) Use of color Beginning: colorful the film is shown in a Gloomy weather

Ending: dreary

FILM TECHNIQUEKent

Film Technique

• the scene Agrin goes to the high cliff main motif • the person in the upside-down reflection in the lake (throwing a stone or a rock?)• Soviet Montage juxtaposition• suicide to atone her sins • Mannerism landscape in a high-angle shot • the jumping scene vs. the film title• mine vs. turtle

• the telephoto lens to get Agrin’s close-up • using the nonprofessional performers

to prove the reality of the local society• realism vs. reality • hand-held shots documentary• bird’s-eye shots • high-contrast angle shots • child’s eye-level shots

• composition triangular designs• the movement away from the camera • the movements from right to left vs. the

movements from left to right• the movement out of the depth of the

scene & a long take

EXTRA INFORMATIONZora

Life in Fog (1998)

A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)

Q&A

QUESTION:Why is the film titled “Turtle Can Fly”?

Works Cited• Turtle Can Fly. Bahman Ghobadi. IFC, 2004. • http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:5k3UkjVq8J8J:www.oca.com.tw/

sidepage/magazine/80/03.doc+%E7%BE%8E%E4%BC%8A%E6%88%B0%E7%88%AD%E5%89%8D%E5%A4%95%EF%BC%8C%E5%BA%AB%E5%BE%B7%E6%97%8F&cd=1&hl=zh-TW&ct=clnk&client=opera

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Kurdish_people• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_people#Origins_and_History• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan• http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2386/2072069728_0d37c0d28a.jpg• http://movie.kingnet.com.tw/search/index.html?act=actor&r=1124161967• http://ifvc.com/images/lifeinfog.jpg• http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/september96/kurds_9-6.html• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/feb99/kurdprofile.htm