Gomgashtei dar Aragh

"Marooned in Iraq (Gomgashtei dar Aragh)" has a really awful English title that they somehow thought was more marketable than whatever the Farsi or Kurdish original undoubtedly was; the print I saw was annoyingly constantly flickering and shifting; the white-on-white sub-titles were so illegible that folks in the audience who could make them out were reading them out loud to those who couldn't; and the meager sentences were inadequate to the lengthy shouting proceeding in the film.

And it was still a captivating movie.

While there's obvious ethnographic interest, like with "Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)" and "Kandahar," in seeing first-hand a culture we don't regularly see humanistically, this picaresque quest could rank with Huckleberry Finn's down the Mississippi.

Here it's the arbitrary Iran/Iraq border dividing the Kurdish community around 1991. We're given almost no background information, but we gradually glean relationships.

A continuing joke is that in a community with only cast-off modern conveniences, rumors and reputation spread faster than humans can travel, even without robbings, Saddam's bombings, kidnappings, and familial arguments that thwart them. Hence, as they trudge from desert to snowy peaks, every one knows about their musical family that seems to be the Fleetwood Mac of Kurdistan, where their intertwined friendships, lovers, loyalties, and rebellions are as well known as their talents and become a passport through the frustrating literal and figurative mine fields of politics, greed, love, and devastation, they accidentally find their hearts' desires in unlikely places.

Their music is not only an identity card, but a unifying force as an uprooted people scatter from the serious and maintain the mundane, amidst a tyrant's gassings and family squabbles. Each character is memorable and distinctive, with unique motives, personalities, failings, and strengths.

It's a man's world here, but the quest is initiated and resolved at each crisis by strong-willed, practical women who are fiercely ensuring the survival of the next generation, culminating in a line straight out of Cameron Crowe's "Singles": "What took you so long?"

We are left in tears urgently hoping for the best as the quest leads to a surprising turn in the road for people we now care about very much.

The only credit translated into English is writer/director/producer Bahman Ghobadi.

I really liked this Ghobadi movie about life for the Kurds on the Iraq-Iran border. One thing I really enjoy in movies from that neck of the world is the fact that we're not dealing with professional actors here. Most of the characters are played by regular Joes and it adds on to the experience. "Marooned in Iraq" also shows the daily life of the Kurds, being bombarded by Saddam's planes. Interesting look at the culture, at the way of making a living, like at the brick work. As in "A Time for Drunken Horses", I was also very moved by the look in the children's eyes. The cinematography is also beautiful. And I enjoyed the traditional music. Rent this one (or get it at your local library like I did) and see for yourself Mirza's odyssey. It plays almost like a treasure hunt. One negative note though: I saw the film on DVD and I suspect that the subtitles didn't really captured what the characters were saying. Unless Kurds are using 10 words for 1 English or French one, I got robbed of a lot of the dialog. Too bad.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on September 16th, 2005.

80/100 (***)

Marooned in Iraq[First-viewing, cinema at San Francisco Film Festival, Kabuki Theatre in the city)(Bahman Ghobadi)- Shahab Ebrahimi, Faegh Mohammadi, Allah-Morad Rashtian

Ghobadi's follow-up to the brilliant, `A Time for the Drunken Horses', is just as stunning both visually and thematically. The cinematography in this film was absolutely marvelous judging by the difficulty it requires in such climates and places and the result which came of it (also one must take into account the low-budget of films in Iran). It's a story of Mirza (Ebrahimi) and his two sons (Mohammadi and Rashtian) journeying in the Kurd-populated province, Kurdistan, in Iran, and eventually into Kurd-populated part of Iraq (across the border). Mirza is looking for his ex-wife, Hanareh. Mirza is also a master musician in Kurdistan and his sons are musicians as well. This film starts out pretty funny actually in the first act, and one gets the sense of a more mature three stooges type film in a very tough atmosphere. However the film gets much stronger in its second and especially third act, as the story is sadenning, powerful and makes some very good points. Although the director was trying to make many points, and I'm not sure if he managed to convey all of them well, he raised some great issues about the society and personal lives of people and especially women. The film also had a beautiful score, provided by Iranian-Kurdish musician, Arsalan Kamkar. Although I preferred, `A time for the Drunken Horses' as it was the deepest and saddest Iranian film I have seen in the past couple of years and makes it point much clearer than this film, Marooned in Iraq is also a very good film which I recommend to any fan of international cinema. 9/10

I went to see this at a festival as a good-for-you topical film - kind of like eating brussels sprouts or something (apologies to those for whom brussels sprouts are a particular favorite). The filmmaker is an Iranian Kurd, and the film involves a journey from Iranian Kurdistan into Iraq.

Much to my surprise, it inspires a fair amount of laughter even in the context of extreme difficulties: a tent refugee camp for orphans in knee-deep mountain snow; voices and faces (never shown, but instead hidden in shame) disfigured by chemical weapons attacks and so on. These are present simply as part of the story's background, rather than like the shrill preachiness more typically seen on U.S. television news reports. Though I suppose one can't really fault journalists for being intensely serious when reporting on that part of the world.

The story is slim: someone is looking for something. They don't find it (her actually), but find other things which turn out to be of value. The man and his two (grown) sons have a larger-than-life bluster and recurring pratfalls which are a bit reminiscent of the Three Stooges. Laughter is good medicine, and these people have certainly earned the right to a heavy dose thereof. One example of the silliness: Our three travelers have their motorbike, clothes and musical instruments stolen by highway bandits disguised as police. Later, they get a ride on a truck and encounter two guys running through the snow in pastel-colored long undies and handcuffed together. They turn up a few times, always claiming to be cops but no one believes them, and they can't get any help.

Overall, an unexpected pleasure. Worth seeing.

I've seen films in DOZENS of different languages...To the best of my recollection; MAROONED IN IRAQ is the first film I have ever seen in Kurdish! What an interesting window into Kurdish culture, recent history, music and traditions director Bahman Ghobadi has provided us!

"...If I leave town, what will happen to my 7 wives and 11 daughters?" says son Audeh to father Mirza. With those words it really doesn't take much for the viewer to figure out why Audeh keeps taking on more wives, does it?

MAROONED begins with a claim that The Kurds, numbering about 30 million and forming sizable ethnic minorities in several different countries, are the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. However, I was unable to confirm this claim.

Please be patient with MAROONED. About 15 or 20 minutes in, I said to myself, "If this doesn't flag my interest soon, it isn't going to!" Soon after, I was mesmerized! This film evoked just about every human emotion imaginable. About 3/4 of the way through, I touched my cheek, and to my immense chagrin, I found I had teared up, but yet, I still can't put my finger on why! 10 minutes later a scene in MAROONED proved that on-screen hysterical grief can be contagious! Watching and learning about these Western Asian traditionally nomadic people fascinated me. How they maintain perspective and their sense of humor despite having been the object of genocidal efforts from Sadam Hussein is absolutely inspirational!

Director Ghobadi has a penchant for pulling the rug out from under the viewer's feet. One moment the father and two sons family are doing a Three Stooges out-take, and the next moment are mourning the death of a friend; Are performing some music in public that's reminiscent of the Bar scene from Star-Wars, and a moment later they're staring genocide in the face. Ghobadi manages these rapid-fire transitions magnificently...KUDOS!

8.25/10*