It is a 2004 Kurdish war drama film. Written, directed & co-produced by Bahman Ghobadi. It stars Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Faysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdolrahman Karim, Ajil Zibari.
Three Refugee children near the Iraqi-Turkish border, awaiting Americans to invade Iraq & overthrow Saddam Hussein.
It was the first film to be made after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It had it’s premiere at 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.
13 year old Soran, known by his alias Kak Satellite, is known for installation of dishes & antenna for the villages who are looking for news about Saddam Hussein. He falls for a girl named Agrin, an orphan from Halabja, assisting her whenever possible.
She is travelling with her disabled brother Hengov, who has a gift of clairvoyance that made him have a bad reputation. The siblings stay with a blind toddler named Riga, introduced as their ‘little brother’.
Agrin gave birth to Riga after she was gang raped by Ba’ath soldiers, who also cut of her brother’s arms. Agrin is unable to accept Riga as anything besides a taint, a continuous reminder of her brutal past.
After multiple tries, she finally ties Riga toa rock & throws him in the bottom of the lake, committing suicide herself by jumping from a cliff. Hengov has vision of his loved ones drowning, he hurries but is too late.
Kak Satellite is disabled while saving Riga earlier, loses any charm he had about the American intervention & looks away when the American soldiers finally pass by him.
Rotten Tomatoes has given it 7.7 /10. ‘hailed as extraordinary, moving & lyrical’. The film was included in the list of best war movies of all time by Jacob Osborn & Megan Drillinger of News Channel Nebraska, where it was placed on the 35th position.
Three words describe it, Compelling, Sad & Bleak.
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