Demi-lune

Reviewed at its 3rd & final screening Sat. Sept 16, 2006 at the Varsity 3 cinema during the Toronto International Film Festival. The film had world premiered earlier during the fest on Sept 9 at the Isabel Bader Theatre.

This road movie with touches of dark comedy was a pleasure to see and touched the heart many times. It is story of a "Kurdish Mozart" (as imagined by the director - a fictional living legend Kurdish composer/musician with a whole orchestra of sons and daughters) and his struggle to get to a major music festival in Iraqi Kurdistan from Irani Kurdistan. It was fascinating and life-affirming.

Even as the film had several moments of desperation and despair on the way the whole thing was lightened by touches like a comedic bus driver, various moments of interaction between the father and his sometimes reluctant or rebellious sons and the resilience of a young woman named Papooli (Butterfly) who was born with the name Niwe mung (Half Moon).

Director Bahman Ghobadi was an enthusiastic show-up for the 3rd screening and gave many interesting tidbits during his Q&A such as info on the banning of female singing and musicians in present day Iran for the past 28 years, that his self-censorship on the film did not help it to get past Irani censors so that he may re-cut the film for the later general international release now anyway (restoring more scenes of female singing & playing) and that the whole 7 months of seeking for travel permits subplot in this film was a nod to the struggles he had to get his earlier "Turtles Can Fly" film made.

This film was 1 of 7 in TIFF 2006's Mozart - A New Crowned Hope series which is a sneak peek at the series before it screens at the Vienna Mozart Year Festival in December 2006.

Highly recommended and a worthy successor to the director's previous films.

i do not speak Kurdish but the subtitle was done very good so it did not bother me. as the film started i thought it will be a easy going comedy but i was in for a surprise. this film is a cinematic master piece about the every day hardship Kurd's go thru in Iran, Iraq and Turkish border. film had a supernatural story to it i do not know the writer but this is one of the most imaginative story i have ever seen. director did a great job capturing the Kurdish land, nature and culture. i fell in love with characters film felt more like real life footage that was how good the acting was. i say this movie is a must see for every one especially for Kurdish people it will make you laugh and cry at the same time

Half Moon begins amidst a frenetic atmosphere as a pair of fighting cocks scrap in a room packed full of jostling, shouting men. But from this boisterous opening there emerges a slow-paced road movie in which a group of Kurdish musicians undertake a bus journey to perform at a concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. Their trek takes us through some stunningly bleak scenery, from dull-brown dusty plains to snow-capped peaks and towns clinging to mountainsides.

The most striking scene in the film features a town full of hundreds of exiled female singers, who line the street and tops of buildings as the travelling musicians retrieve a fellow performer for the concert. The absurdity of this acts as a clever commentary on the banning of female musicians in Islamic Iran and there are countless further insights into the lives of Kurdish people throughout Half Moon. The nerve-wracking confrontations with border guards testify to the great difficulties faced by the Kurds in being divided across four countries and treated frequently as second-class citizens. Somewhat strangely for a film about travelling musicians the film does not afford a great deal of attention to the music of the people whom it portrays, but there are nevertheless some very interesting sounds to be heard here.

Engaging with the storyline can be difficult at times due the contrasting moods and a tendency to jump back and forth in time. Although not often laugh-out-loud in nature, there are many moments of warm-hearted humour during the film. On the other hand, dark omens abound throughout and create a growing sense of foreboding. The combination of these elements seems incongruous on occasion but they are drawn together in a moving climax. I found parts of the film falling into place long after I left my seat in the cinema and I regard that as a rare and valuable thing.

Kurdish Persian director Bahman Ghobadi scores again at San Sebastian with the Kurdish language film "Half Moon"

By Alex Deleon image1.jpeg Basic Plot: Mamo, an old and legendary Kurdish musician living in Iran, plans to give one final concert over the border in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rounding up his ten sons, he sets out for the long arduous journey in a derelict bus while plagued by a recurrent vision of his own death at half moon.

Bahman Ghobadi's new Iranian-Kurdish offering, "Half Moon" (Niwemang) was in competition at the 2006 San Sebastian Film Festival. Ghobadi is a favored son here in Donostia where his last film "Turtles Can Fly" was unanimously awarded the Best Film Golden Concha two years ago. The current work, with a lengthy running time of just under two hours, again focuses on the stateless Kurdish community of Iran, and is rich in Kurdish cultural and folkloric material with the usual sparkling, natural performances he invariably draws from his predominantly Kurdish performers, and the huge panoramic landscapes of the barren mountainous Persian terrain which have come to typify his visual style.

"Half Moon" might be characterized as a road movie in which a group of traditional Kurdish musicians consisting of Maestro Mamo and his ten sons, set out in a school bus from Tehran for the border area where Iran abuts against both Turkey and Iraq, hoping to stage a musical event with traditional instruments for their Kurdish brethren over the border in Iraq -- now a possibility thanks to the recent fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. At the border they run into unpleasant military confrontations with near disastrous results for their treasured project. Mamo, (Ismail Ghaffari) the handsome old man who is the leader of the delegation, is so distraught that he gets into the coffin where the Kurdish instruments have been concealed and asks to be buried alive. At the touchy border crossing they are met by a beautiful mysterious young woman who offers her assistance in getting them past the ominous border guards.

"Half Moon" , while dealing with the precarious position of Kurds in this strife torn part of the world, is much lighter in tone than his previous "Turtles Can Fly" and is almost a comedy, but with serious political overtones. The beauty at the border is played by Golshifte Farahani. currently Iran's most popular leading lady of the silver screen. With her looks and on screen charisma its not hard to see why. She reminds me of a cross between Italy's Monica Belluci and Pakistan's former president Benazir Bhutto. With Iran's growing presence on the world film scene it seems to be only a matter of time before this striking actress is discovered by some Western director and breaks out into an international career. Golshifte was present at the press conference and speaks fluent English, so that language would be no hindrance. But if Hollywood gets their hands on her they'll probably change her name to something that sounds less shifty and easier to remember.

PS: Golshifte later had to leave Iran after defying the clerics and has indeed broken out into an international career, without changing her name, notably in films by director Ridley Scott. Unfortunately not yet in the kind of leading roles that would properly showcase the talents and beauty of this remarkable Iranian actress, now 33. In January 2012, it was reported that Golshifteh would not be welcome back in Iran after posing nude in a French magazine. Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that government officials told Golshifteh that "Iran does not need actors or artists like you. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else". This she continues to do while having taken up residence in France. Director Ghobadi has also been forced into exile after his underground film "Nobody Knows About Persian Cats" was viewed as subversive by the reigning powers in 2009. ------------------------------------------------------

Also known as Half Moon this film is a road movie in which a number of Kurdish musicians living in Iran plan to travel to Iraqi-Kurdistan to give a concert. It starts with gathering the players of the band in a small town in Iran and then travels on by bus through the battered lands.

As expected from a road movie a number of things happens to the travelers and there is a nice balance between some mild comedy and some drama. Nothing of what happens is entirely out of touch and with that the film (or better said, the bus) rolls on with the gentle speed of a backwater river.

All in all, a pleasant but slow way to spend an evening, watching the adventures of a band of elder musicians on their way through life.

7 out of 10 faithful musicians