Turtles Can Fly

Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi returns to his native Kurdistan — the scene of his first feature, A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES (2000) — and crafts a small and very timely masterpiece. This time, however, the country is Iraq, just days before the 2003 invasion by U.S. and British forces. Kanibo is a tiny village perched on the border between Iraq and Turkey that has become a depository for war wreckage: The village is ringed by refugee tents, the fields are filled with American land mines and empty spaces have become parking lots for junked tanks and used shell casings. With the threat of yet another conflict hanging over their heads, news is at a premium, and young, cr...