Gomgashtei dar Aragh

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 (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.

Marooned in Iraq is a story about a Kurdish father named Mirza and his two sons living in Iran who embark on a quest to find Mirza's former wife who is the one marooned in Iraq. Straight from a modern soap opera, she left Mirza for hist best friend and broke up their band in the process. Something has happened and she has sent for Mirza to help her.

The story occurs during Saddam Hussein's brutal attacks on the Kurds. During the three men's quest, there is the constant reminder of Saddam's hostility by the sounds of bombers flying overhead and a scene of a mass grave filled with massacred Kurdish men. The director is evidently making his commentary on the inhumanity shown by the ruthless dictator.

Another political statement being made by the director is on the issue of political boundaries being placed on a historically nomadic people. The Kurds have occupied what they call Kurdistan for thousands of years in the area now politically divided between the countries of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. During a scene late in the film, Mirza simply steps on the border between Iraq and Iran as he crosses over showing that to the nomadic Kurds, they heed no boundaries.

The director does a great job of using the terrain in the backdrops of each scene making you feel like you are there. Although the film is subtitled, not every word is translated; however, you get enough to understand the conversation. The film was quite educational on the life of the Kurds and what they went through under Saddam Hussein's regime.

I would recommend this film to anyone interested in the middle east, specifically the Kurds. If you don't like foreign/subtitled film, this movie is not for you. Overall, I enjoyed this film and felt it quite educational.

Marooned in Iraq was a movie that surprised me. I knew it was a story about a famous Iranian singer and his sons, also members of what used to be his band, traveling to Iraq to help his ex-wife who ran off with his best friend, both of whom were also in the band. But I also knew that it served as a political statement about the war. For this reason I assumed it would be somewhat sad, and kind of boring as movies about war put me to sleep. But I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was actually an interesting, funny movie. Of course it was serious at times, but the interaction between the characters was hilarious. It kept my attention and did not focus too strongly on the war.

All of the actors in the movie were new to acting, and with some characters you could tell. But the main characters do an amazing job! They get really into their roles, especially the men that play the sons, Barat and Audeh. The music in the movie is very good as well. The background music makes you almost feel like you're there, and when the characters start playing music, it makes you wish you were there. Although the movie was made with a very small budget, I didn't see any problems with how it was made. I thought it looked fantastic.

Marooned in Iraq is a story about duty, endurance, and hope. Mirza knows it is his duty to help Hanareh, the ex-wife he still loves. She asked for help and he did not think twice about immediately leaving on a long, dangerous mission to aid her. Barat and Audeh know it is their duty to help their father. Although Audeh complains the entire time, he never the less goes with his father to retain the honor of his family. Endurance and hope is prevalent in everyone in the movie. Their homes, families, and lives are destroyed, but they keep going. They help each other and keep hoping that things will get better because that's all they can do.

This movie is very good and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Middle East. It does a great job of showing the effects of war on the land and homes, and in the people themselves. It's also great for anyone who enjoys a good laugh and can stand subtitled movies. Although what was happening in Iran and Iraq at the time is depressing, it is an uplifting movie because it shows that even through tragedy life goes on.

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