Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 14 Feb only

Bahman Ghobadi / Iran/Iraq/France / 2004 / 97 min

In the heart of a land mine-riddled, rugged region on the Iraq-Turkey border is a Kurdish refugee camp, full of orphaned children. As the villagers desperately await the fall of Sadam Hussein, young entrepreneur Satellite (Soran Ebrahim) continues to run a community of child bomb disposers, negotiating with adults to defuse land mines in exchange for a TV aerial. As the US invasion of spring 2003 nears, the collection of land mines begins to be traded for weapons as the children prepare the refugee camp for war.

Performed by actual refugees, the amateur cast are natural and quietly impressive, with Hengov (Hiresh Feysal Rahman) – the armless clairvoyant – showing maturity ahead of his years and a born protector of his companions. Avaz Latif as Agrin, Satellite’s love interest, plays her long silences with heartbreaking feeling, and the desperation she eventually reaches is almost unbearable to watch. Ebrahim captures a diversity typical of a teenage boy, from bossy assertiveness to relentlessly trying to impress Agrin, complementing a compelling trio of performances.

Entertaining the predictions of Hengov and toying with ghostly visions of the children, Turtles Can Fly is mysterious and not afraid to experiment. Despite the horrendous and uncomfortable realism of the story, director Bahman Ghobadi hasn’t been afraid to keep hold of an innocent childhood humour; the children’s interaction with one another and the naivety of the refugees maintains a steady stream of laughter, which only accentuates the more hard-hitting scenes.

Sensitive, eye-opening and entertaining, Ghobadi has created a delicate mix of light and dark, and as such makes the plight of his characters – and what we can only assume are their real life counterparts – thoroughly engaging, and painfully sad.