Turtles Can Fly

Bahman Ghobadis’s 2004 film Turtles Can Fly is an emotional narrative of Kurdish refugee children in Iraq just before the American invasion. Despite the setting of a globally hostile environment, the film captures the viewer into the stories of the children and the adversities that they face. Their situations display unfortunate aspects of life that such young and innocent children shouldn’t have to endure, such as trading landmines for guns and thoughts of suicide.
The cinematography in Turtles Can Fly is very strong seeming more technically accomplished than other modern films from the region. The camera work, colors, frames, and edges all give the film a strong composition, and this interpretation provides a clearer picture of the bleak situation in which the children are involved. Also, Ghobadi makes a developed use of mise-en-scene such as use of camera angle to show height in the cliff scenes.
Turtles Can Fly offers a moving film that brings to light the often overlooked victims of war. These children’s fights in a world of confusion and turmoil display the desperation for a decent experience of humanity. One scene in the film that displays the point of desperation in which these people have arrived is when a child is yelling for everyone to get off of the truck and another child mentions to him,” Not all of them are our boys,” and he then replies “That doesn’t matter.” This scene is an example of the desperation and confusion for which the film is trying to make evident of the people who actually were victims of the Iraq war and other similar Middle Eastern conflicts.
-Gregory Brent Thomas

Moartea domnului Lăzărescu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu)

Moartea domnului Lăzărescu ("The Death of Mister Lazarescu"), directed by Cristi Puiu, is a Romanian drama with a dark plot that details the final 12 hours of a lonely, alcoholic pensioner's life. This lengthy film begins with an almost tedious introduction to Dante Lazarescu in his small apartment and, throughout the night, follows him through the streets of Bucharest to four separate hospitals. Viewers observe Mr. Lazarescu losing coherency while medical staff, for one reason or another, refuse to treat him and send him off once more in the ambulance. The final scene closes without giving the viewers a definite conclusion; however, they may realize that they have been paying less and less attention to the rapidly deteriorating Mr. Lazarescu as the movie’s focus turned to those around him, considering him a casualty long before the closing scene.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a film that uses cramped, close shots, shaky and uneven camera motions, and unnatural fluorescent lighting to give the film a morbidly realistic twist. The scenery is neither beautiful nor inspiring: the film is seen from the inside of Mr. Lazarescu’s dirty, soiled apartment, the small ambulance, and various rooms in overcrowded hospitals. Viewers are treated to close up looks at every aspect of the movie while the camera bounces along, turning the audience from disengaged viewers to active participants in the drama and action.

This gritty, realistic film style is, in part, a cultural response. While the film certainly examines and even skewers the poorly organized and run healthcare of the country, there is also a broader criticism to be heard. As A.O. Scott points out, prior to the revolution in 1989, Romanian public life and media was dominated by lies and fantasies; the communist party controlled what was told and how it was told. After the revolution, many filmmakers revolted against this delusional style, instead focusing on stories that ring true and that make the audience take note. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is certainly one such film: Puiu focuses on this one man’s final hours without adding glamour or distance, brutally forcing the audience to stay with the characters until the very end.

-Samantha Thomson

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Trailer

JSA: Joint Security Area

Joint Security Area, directed by Chan-wook Park, is a part-thriller, part-mystery, part-action film that keeps the viewer on the edge of his or her seat while trying to figure out what the heck happened during the events that transpired during that night in October.  At first, the viewer is presented with a confusing jumble of stories that both sides of the divide are sticking to.  The South says that the North kidnapped one of their Sergeants while the North says the South sent an unprovoked attack.  It’s up to a female agent from the neutral country of Switzerland to figure it all out.  Park then uses a really effective technique where he slowly reveals the sequence of events that lead up to the shootout between the two forces. 

        The movie is undoubtedly Korean as the characters constantly refer to the Americans as ‘devils’ and ‘bastards’.  There are also many scenes with traditional Korean singers in the background when the four friends were meeting.  The fact that the entire movie took place on the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea may lead the viewer to believe that this is a local film only.  However, there are many American influences present such as the M16A4’s used by the South Korean army and the standard issue cigarette lighter.  Also, the Swiss soldiers leading the investigation throw in their own flavor from Switzerland to the movie.  This is what leads me to my final conclusion that JSA is indeed an international film.

One thing that most directors have been trying to do in recent years is explore the experiences of a soldier outside of battle.  JSA does just that.  Instead of focusing on combat, Park shows that it is possible for the North and South Koreans to live together without shooting each other in the back.  But, in contrast, he also shows that a peace between the two nations will not come anytime soon.  The strength of the bond between the four men was such that they were willing to kill themselves to hide the truth.  But in the end, nothing had changed in the overall conflict between the eternal North and South.  With the future in question, Park ends the movie with a picture, a stark contrast to the moving film that shows all four men playing their part in the lie that binds them tightly to one another.

-Chris Schreiber

Nuevas Reinas (Nine Queens)

Nuevas Reinas (“Nine Queens”), written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky, is a thrilling crime drama with a plot that twists, turns, double-crosses, and leaves the audience guessing up until the closing scene. Two conmen meet in the opening scenes, supposedly by chance. From there, we are taken through an increasingly complex set of schemes, with many new characters winding in and out of the film to weave a tangled web. The film appropriately ends with a dramatic and unexpected plot twist.

The con artist-scamming-con artist theme in Nine Queens is one we have seen before, in movies such as Ocean’s Eleven and House of Games. This certainly shows globalization: the rapidly paced action and dialogue are both very Hollywood, some of the accents and characters - such as the main mark, Gandalfo - are Spanish, and there is even the constant hint of Italian seen in the mentions of singer Rita Pavone.

These widespread influences are important, to be sure, but there is no denying the local, Argentine influences on Nine Queens. The movie is, indeed, a composite of the cultural problems and attitudes that years of political and economic unrest have created in Argentina. We firstly see constantly changing scenery, stressing the differences in the lives of people in the city streets, who seem to be either scammers or defenseless marks, and people in the richly appointed hotel, who are either staff or corrupt businessman-types. We also see a deeply individualistic message throughout the movie: each character only appears to be looking out for his or her own interests. These characters are willing to double, triple, and quadruple cross everyone from strangers to blood relatives, all the while insisting that they are not scammers. However, the movie does end with a message of hope, showing that when the good guys work together, they can sometimes beat the bad guys – this, I believe, symbolizes the hope that Argentinians have for a more stable, honest society.

-Samantha Thomson


Nine Queens Trailer

Introduction

This blog will be exploring international cinema in the form of weekly film responses and a more in depth project based around Mexican Cinema. Our group consists of five students, who will be reviewing two films each:


Blake Rainwater - Cache and Hero
Zach Rounsaville - Amores Perros and Once Were Warriors
Chris Schreiber - JSA and No Man's Land
Greg Thomas - Turtles Can Fly and Swades: We the People
Samantha Thomson - Nine Queens and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu