Turtles Can Fly Response

In the reading, the author states that diaspora can hurt a group of peoples’ cultural lifestyle and their traditions. It not only displaces them but separates them from a lifestyle they are so accustomed to. These points really relate to the characters in Turtle’s Can Fly. The characters are not only forced to migrate from town to town but they also had to claim new jobs and lifestyles. They do not eat the same or do the same activities that they did prior to the war. The children collect mines now rather than helping in a field or playing games. The adults spend more time worrying about what the news says than maintaining their villages and livelihoods.  The children are forced to take on more responsibilities. Satellite had to take control of all the local kids and put them to work. He would not have been in that position had diaspora taken place during the hard times. I think having a US perspective makes you see them from one of two ways. The first way is that they are barbarians and the second way is that they are helpless and need assistance. I feel a little bit of both when it comes to the film. I feel hostility towards their culture to a small degree because of what some of their people do. However, those characters in the village are the ones that are hurt and destroyed. I feel bad for their struggling when they have done nothing to deserve it.  I think the film director was trying to show what life is like for those that aren’t terrorists or military in the Middle East. The film shows you how rough the war is on these random families and Afghan people. We as Americans know how the war affects us all but not how it affects everyday people in the Middle East.

I enjoyed this reading overall and I was impressed by the quality of the film. They did an incredible job filming and making it look like a true movie that could belong in a theater. I thought the plot kept you on your toes. I like movies that move along at a good pace and keep you entertained. This movie had some twists in it that I thought made the movie even better because it was not predictable.