Turtles Can Fly
In a Kurdish refugee camp shadowed by invasion, a resourceful boy and traumatized orphans struggle to survive a childhood shaped by mines, displacement, and war.
Overview
In a war-torn landscape, children navigate survival amidst chaos and loss.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- haunting
- lyrical
- bleak
- serious film night
- humanitarian cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an extraordinary, moving, lyrical, and urgent anti-war drama distinguished by authentic detail and powerful performances.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Satellite, Agrin, Hengov, Riga, and the refugee children navigate landmines, displacement, and the imminent American invasion rather than participating as soldiers.
Satellite leads children through mine-clearing, scavenging, antenna installation, and news translation for the refugee camp.
The film uses authentic camp settings and refugee children to portray precarious work, injury, displacement, and communal survival.
The title's surreal image contrasts with minefields, orphanhood, sexual violence, and the film's devastating emotional trajectory.
Films like Turtles Can Fly, and why
Grave of the Fireflies
shared anti-war drama, child-centered perspective, and harrowing depiction of civilians trapped in military conflict
In This World
shared refugee displacement, political violence, and emotionally devastating humanist realism
Beasts of No Nation
shared war trauma, morally urgent realism, and focus on vulnerable children amid social collapse
Theeb
shared lyrical atmosphere, orphaned children, and intimate drama shaped by regional conflict
Movie Details
- Director
- Bahman Ghobadi
- Release Date
- 2006-12-28
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Rating
- 7.8 / 10 (247)
Cast
- Soran Ebrahim
- Avaz Latif
- Saddam Hossein Feysal
- Hiresh Feysal Rahman
- Abdol Rahman Karim
- Ajil Zibari
Common questions
- What is Turtles Can Fly about?
- In a Kurdish refugee camp shadowed by invasion, a resourceful boy and traumatized orphans struggle to survive a childhood shaped by mines, displacement, and war.
- What is Turtles Can Fly like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Turtles Can Fly as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Turtles Can Fly violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Turtles Can Fly as graphic.
- What did critics think of Turtles Can Fly?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an extraordinary, moving, lyrical, and urgent anti-war drama distinguished by authentic detail and powerful performances.
- Which films are like Turtles Can Fly?
- Films with a similar feel include Grave of the Fireflies, In This World, Beasts of No Nation, and Theeb.
- How long is Turtles Can Fly?
- Turtles Can Fly runs 98 minutes.
