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Sludge 
"Charlie Don't Serf!"
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 Posted - 01/05/2008 : 05:22:33
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Hey friends. I have been laying low for many months now on FWFR (except for some haiku activity). However, I have been continuing to see films from the library nearly every night - a habit I picked up to feed my FWFR monster.
I want to bring special attention to the film "Turtles Can Fly" which I just saw last night.
I think this one is a masterpiece. It takes place in the lead up to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but it is not particularly focused on Saddam, the Americans or the politics surrounding the war.
The character "Satellite", who can be no older than 15, leads a village of younger orphans who harvest land mines on the hillsides surrounding Iraqi/Kurdish villages and use them as currency in the local markets. Among other things, he purchases used satellite dishes. Since he's the only one in the villages who knows how to install them, he's earned the nickname.
Several of the actors have been maimed by mines. The director treats these subjects so naturally, he is neither focused on their disfigurement nor overtly tearing at the audience for sympathy. We stop seeing these small broken bodies for what they can't do, and begin to see them for what they are: adaptable survivors who have figured out the game, and who deftly fend for one another while the adults sit around and accomplish nothing.
There's much more to this film, but I think I've said enough.
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Turtles Can Fly (2004)
