I found this movie called Turtles Can Fly by accident. It was another flick I found while perusing some extra channels bestowed for free upon my wife by the dish people after she yelled at them for poor service. I remember thinking as I channel surfed past said flick, "Hey, this looks like Kurdistan." Low and behold...it was. I have been there twice, and for those that do not know, Kurdistan is a region in parts of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. The Kurdish people have been at war with these "nations" for generations. The Kurds see themselves as a nation, even have a flag, trouble is, no one else sees them as a nation. Let me jog your memories and mention Saddam Hussein poison-gased Kurdish areas in 1988 - his own citizens. The Kurds were not in the least sad to see Saddam removed. This is said to be the first movie made in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's departure.
Having been to Kurdistan twice recently, I noticed this movie has oodles of nuanced and not so nuanced esoteric assumptions us outsiders may not get. Here are just a couple issues not explained to the viewer. The place is loaded with landmines ordered put there by their own President Saddam Hussein. The story takes place in a small village and a nearby refugee camp both sitting by the Turkish border. In fact Turkish guard towers are in view. Hussein had killed, ethnic cleansed thousands of Kurds, and destroyed thousands of villages - as have the Turks by the way - hence, the refugee camp.
It is the Eve of the Coalition invasion of Iraq. There is of course difficulty getting news of the impending war. An innovative and entrepreneurial 13-year old kid nick-named Satellite (Soran Ebrahim) can trade landmine parts for television equipment. He has many gigs: landmine salvage, television parts, weapon acquisition, and general scavenging, all of which he marshals the local and disenfranchised kids to help facilitate. He is relentless in his pursuits, and all in the back-story of war, abject poverty, and the rugged mountainous beautiful yet forbidding land of Kurdistan.
Satellite becomes smitten with a young orphan girl named Agrin (Avas Latif). She has an armless brother Hengov (Hiresh Faysal Rahman) and a young child, Riga (Abdol Rahman Karim), in tow and they are hold up in the refugee camp. It turns out Riga has come into the world due to the rape of Riga by Iraqi soldiers. Agrin, for the most part a child herself, is stunningly haunting. We learn she is methodically suicidal. Hengov seems to have some clairvoyance abilities and a knack for disarming mines with his teeth.
Two of my favorite characters are Satellite's sidekicks. Pashow (Saddam Hossein Feysal) has a bum leg and a crutch; he seems to be Satellite's number one confederate. It takes a while to even realize he is handicapped as he moves about so cleverly. The other kid is Shirkooh (Ajil Zibari) who is a devoted lieutenant to Satellite and has a tendency to incorporate every conversation by descending into urgent tears.
When I was in Kurdistan I remember it as surreal and Orwellian. At that time it was like a movie set for one of those towns during or after a war or disaster, yet people carry on just too busy living to be distracted by the horror and dangers us outsiders are smacked between the eyes by. I think I used a reference to the movie Blade Runner when writing a narrative for a local newspaper and again while on the radio. To paraphrase a review found on The Internet Movie Database (IMMd) the anonymous writer mentioned, "It seemed to be a non-fictional Mad Max world with barbedwire, tents, and rusted military equipment. Land-mine salvaging kids with the marks of their trade - missing and mangled limbs - run rampant like feral cats. And it is a war-scape setting with spent shells piled like cord-wood and wrecked army tanks strewn around like discarded toys."
The movie catches the timbre of the people, region, and war. It is a side-story to a greater hell; it presents the situation for what it is by sidestepping the politicians, schools, adults, and leaders, that insist we all take sides in their all-to predictable false-alternative mantra. Here we just find kids during a daisy-chain of perennial wars using their redirected kid talents....
....to survive.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Specialist Kevin James Graham, 27, of Benton, Kentucky, and previously of Salem, Wisconsin, died on Saturday, September 26, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was killed in an insurgent attack on his vehicle using an improvised explosive device. Graham was assigned to 4th Platoon, Company Alpha, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Washington. Specialist Graham was on his first overseas deployment when killed in action.
The Website afghanistan.pigstye.net noted quoting information from the Kenosha News that Kevin had always liked all things military and was a military history buff. The Graham family moved to Salem, Wisconsin in 1991. Kevin later moved with his parents to Kentucky in 2005. Kevin's father was a Vietnam War veteran. Aside from his military interests, Graham had a 1965 Pontiac LeMans he loved to work on; he also attended car shows and cruise-in car nights. Graham enlisted with the Army in September of 2007. His deployment to Afghanistan began in July of 2009. Kevin is remembered for his quiet nature, sense of humor, love of old cars, and trap shooting. The Website went on to say one of Specialist's duties was as a mortar carrier driver.
In an obituary posting on the Website legacy.com using information from the Seattle Times notes Specialist Graham was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, A Purple Heart; the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Combat Infantry Badge. He had previously been awarded the National Defense Service Medal; the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star; the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; the Army Service Ribbon; the Overseas Service Ribbon; the NATO Medal; and, the Expert Marksmanship Badge.
The Website freedomremembered.com said Kevin was born on March 30, 1982. His civilian education was via Home Study Diploma which he received in 2000. He was remembered for taking in his stepson as his very own. The House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky read into official record a resolution honoring Specialist Graham.
At the time of his death Kevin Graham was survived by his wife Krystal Graham; his stepson Brian Graham; his parents Sandra and Daniel Graham; and, three brothers Scott, Sean and Daniel. Kevin Graham was laid to rest at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, Texas. Army Specialist Kevin Graham was the 14th Wisconsin military service person killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
0 American/Coalition casualties in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
100,693 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,950 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,455 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1571 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
874 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,079 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
11,191 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
31 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
148 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
4 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
