Turtles Can Fly

Known as the first movie to be filmed in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Turtles Can Fly , is an exceptional film that focuses on the lives of children and civilians in a Kurdish refugee camp located at the border of Iraq and Turkey. Forbidden to purchase satellites from their area, the civilians try to create their own satellites to be able to pick up signals from news chanels about the war. This film is a story revolved a boy known as Satellite and the children who work for him. Satellite is known as the leader of the pack, taking care of all the kids, providing jobs for them to provide for themselves. With the slight ability to speak English, Satellite takes care of his unit and is looked up upon greatly from the elderly and infant. Carefully scanning the minefields for American mines in the minefield, Satellite uses his connections to trade or sell the mines for things such as weapons or money.
This movie shows a very biased views of the support for the United States invasion of Iraq. This may seen with skepticism, but it shows the views and faith of the producer in coming into production. Turtles Can Fly shows a side of the people themselves and their opposition towards Saddam as well. As an American, this makes viewers like myself come to understand the Kurdish people and the suffering they have been going through as well and see things from a different perspective. Director, Ghabodi, depicts the crucial and harsh environment of the Kurdish Iraqi people by succinctly executing his shots. With his proper positioning and zoom of the camera lens and the use of flashbacks, Ghabodi Turtles Can Fly has won an immense amount of awards (which i support). What I find the most impressive is his casting and his view to put the film in the lives of the children. Dominated by the acting of infants, this was a great movie with a great cast and plot.

Review of The Death of Mr.Lazarscu

The Death of Mr.Lazarescu is a bitter social satire on widower pensioner (Mr.Lazarscu) that in one night felt bad and order an emergency medical service. The movie start with a phone call that Mr.Lazarscu made and inform that he feels unwell. In this phone call, the director decided to give us information about Mr.Lazarscu when questions start being asked from the other side of the telephone. From this conversation we know how he feel, why he might feel like that (drinking), his age and details about his apartment. The old telephone and the alcohol bottle next to it, invite us to get in Mr.Lazarscu character and actually feel Mr.Lazarscu life. After a long waiting, the ambulance arrived and the paramedic of this ambulance became an ally of the old man. Together they moved from one hospital to another, trying to find a hospital that will give Mr.Lazarscu the treatment that he need. The doctors and the nurses treated their patients and Mr.Lazarscu like they were burden for the hospital. They look bored, asking over and over again why she (the paramedic) did not take him to another hospital and they simply do not feel like taking care of an old drunkard. The disrespectful doctors, the boring nurses and the slow process for a patient to get a treatment give Romania a really bad image. For the ones who like a black comedy, “The death of Mr.Lazarscu” beyond just a comedy film, gives the audience feeling of realty, mercy and evilness.

Review of JSA
By: Eric Martin

Park Chan-wook’s latest piece Joint Security Area is an entertaining film that pairs fear with bravery, division with unity, hatred with friendship, and tragedy with hope. The plot centers on the investigation of a recent military confrontation between South and North Korean troops along the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in which two North Korean soldiers were killed at a border house. Naturally, the two sides have differing and biased views of the event, and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission must launch an investigation to uncover the truth and avert a civil war between the two nations. Major Sophie E. Jean (Lee Young Ae), a Swiss born Korean, conducts the investigation and discovers not only truth, but also the brotherhood the once existed between the two Koreas. The strength of this movie does not lie in the action scenes, but in its ability to remain neutral and present the truth in a forceful manner.

Even though this film is entertaining and can reach audience of different nations, I believe it would be a mistake to categorize this film as a national cinema. For example, the movie persistently downplays the roles of non-Korean actors. The investigation is being led a Swiss who happens to be of Korean descent. Her Swedish partner, supposedly her equal, never contributes anything meaningful to the case. Her superior officer informs her that she must remain perfectly neutral and not upset the two opposing Koreas, which is an order that she derides as being impossible. Even though the presence of foreign nations in diplomatic issues cannot entirely be overlooked, the movie suggests that foreign powers tend to destabilize. For example, there is a constant fear that the U.S. when blow up Korea, or that the Korean War was just a playground for the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. The main message of the movie is that the DMZ is Korea’s problem and that the North and the South are still brothers. This message is given palpable meaning in one of the first images of the movie in the Joint Security Area where two apparently identical men can be seen facing off with only a small intangible line between them. This film is meant to educate foreigners while emotionally affect Korean audience.

Nine Queens Film Review

Nine Queens is a Argentina based film setting in the city with an opening character named Juan.  In the beginning, Juan is depicted as a thief tricking a gas station clerk into receiving more money than paid.  Marcos, another man in the store, helps Juan out of the skirmish with the manager and reveals to him that he is a thief as well.  Marcos then tells Juan that he saw what he did, and would like Juan to be his accomplice in a bigger job with greater money, and greater stakes, selling the "priceless" Nine Queens Stamps to a Stamp Collector being deported from the country.  Juan and Marcos ride as a duo into a very complicated, elaborate day ahead.  The movie really shows the complicated social structure of precedence and capitalism, and it goes deeper with the true root of trust.  Juan and Marcos are working class citizens in a city of thieves and they bother realize the true adaptations they need to make to help themselves out.  Juan and Marcos are theives, and juxtapose each other by the fact that they hold such a title, and ring into the theme "trust".  It becomes very hard for them to trust each other as the day wears on because of the rising fact that they know each other being thieves instead of friends, and "the only bond between thieves is trust" commented in the movie.    If you are looking for a movie with incredible twists, interesting structure, and surprises around the corner, definitely go see Nine Queens.