Jessica Weiss on "Turtles can Fly" and "Framing Diaspora in Diasporic Cinema"

     The characters in Turtles can Fly differed greatly when they were diasporic peoples versus residents. Satellite lived in the village boarding the city, and was well-known and well liked. It was his town. He was the guy everyone, old and young, sought out to set up the tvs and to translate the English-spoken news. He helped the village children find work. He was their beloved leader. Because he had a home to come from, he didn't have the same perspective as the diasporic trio of young girl, her amputated brother, and her bastard blind son. She had to ask for things to get by – ask for rope, ask for good water, etc. She was not spoken-to directly, though spoken about by the home-town villagers. She and her little family were outsiders with no home to return to because their home had been brutalized by soldiers. Even though the amputated brother was helpful to the village children in finding minds, he still was the underdog who couldn't be trusted at first as Satellite ostracizes him from the group. When the girl is pursued by Satellite, she goes home to ask her brother when they can leave. After being raped, she seems to resent male attention and definitely resents her role as caregiver to her bastard child. Had she been like Satellite who had a home, she may have had more help for this child she didn't ask for, but she couldn't bear it and winds up jumping off a cliff after leaving her son in a mine field. An obvious distinction is that the diasporic peoples try to make do with what they have, but ultimately are left with such a tragic life that some cannot bear it.

     As an American viewing this film, my reactions were intense. While I could certainly empathize with the characters, I couldn't relate directly as I don't think of myself as a diasporic person. The first time the film shows Satellites best friend as having a deformed leg from a mine explosion is shocking and unexpected. The boy is so capable, so happy, as we see him kiss the cheeks and laugh with the blind son of the diasporic girl. Seeing all of the children working on the fields but remaining happy proved to me that, sadly, this is just the way of life they're use to. It isn't strange to them they are working at such young ages, but it wrenched my heart. Ghobadi seemed to want to portray the message of what it is like to live in pre-war conditions in an under-developed country. Beyond that, I believe Ghobadi's films portrayed universal themes of struggle, playfulness, depression, violence, and so much more of the human condition, so the film, while focusing on this particular village of Iraq is something a global audience can understand.