Sirta la gal ba

Set in Iraq during the 1980s, this somber drama focuses a man who travels between various war-torn Kurdish villages, recording and subsequently broadcasting messages between separated families. While the messaging is fairly basic (triumphing the Kurdish spirit and their ability to always press on), the film is a fairly engaging ride, almost like a road movie except that most of the travel is done by foot. It is quite interesting seeing all around Iraq and some of the characters he meets along the way are colourful, including a singer forced to remove 'Kurdistan' from his stage name. The lead actor does well within the confines of the material too, constantly placing himself as an observing outsider or a mere conduit for communication; distancing himself from some of the accounts relayed was probably not easy. As mentioned, it is all fairly simple stuff, but offering a glimpse of history not often depicted on film, it is a hard movie to dismiss.

I watched this film during the Kurdish Film Festival in London.

It's evidently a very low budget movie and judging it from this perspective, we can only admire the director who was able to produce such a touching picture. Beautiful pictures of Iraq contrast with the cruel extermination of the Kurdish nation by Saddam's regime. But we don't get to see the cruelty directly, but rather only the "beforehands" and the "afterwards" which is a very genuine and powerful idea and a brilliant way to cope with the money limitations.

The final scene is truly touching but the film never crosses the line of sentimentalism. Recommended.

Borys Musielak Filmaster.com