What I got from the films Kandahar and Turtles can fly is that the people of Afghanistan and Iraq have a very hard way of life. After the U.S. invaded they have struggled to live their lives as normal. Watching these films as an American citizen I was disheartened. It's horrible that innocent people have been forced to live in violent conditions. I can't help but wonder what if the roles were reversed and we were the one's living with the casualties of an invasion.
In Turtles Can Fly we see what it is like for the children of Iraq. Many of them seemed to be orphans, taking care of themselves. I think that showing the lives of children makes a big impact impact because the characters in the film were facing difficulties that children should not have to worry about. The young people seemed to be very mature for their ages. They have been given tough circumstances and are trying to get along on their own or with the help of siblings and other children. Many children in 1st world nations could not imagine what it would be like to make a way for themselves.
What's sad about the current Diasporas that the world is facing is that we have seen how much chaos previous ones have made yet we continue to have them. Like I mentioned in my previous post about Kandahar, I like these films that show us the lives of the people living in Afghanistan and Iraq. This movies show us that these people are normal people with feelings, hopes and dreams. Making the characters young children is a great way to get an audience to empathize. Children are usually innocent and most people will agree that they all deserve decent living conditions.
Our responses to "Turtles Can Fly" are very similar. It was interesting that the main characters were children, maybe making the audience more sympathetic to their current situation. Seeing these children risk their lives was sickening, and it is so depressing to think that it happens everyday. These children should be living a normal life, not handling mines and other dangerous things. But then again, do they really know what normal is?
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