MAROONED IN IRAQ Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Bahman Ghobadi Producer: Bahman Ghobadi Writer: Bahman Ghobadi Directors of Photography: Sa'ed Nikzat, Shahriar Asadi Cast: Shahab Ebrahimi, Faegh Mohammadi, Allah-Morad Rashtian Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

Comment on the message boards.

Review by: Warren Curry
5/18/03

Set in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War, director Bahman Ghobadi's (A Time For Drunken Horses) Marooned In Iraq follows the plight of Iranian and Iraqi Kurds attempting to pick up the pieces of their lives in the wake of Saddam Hussein's brutal chemical weapons assault against them. While this very basic description may turn off many filmgoers due to the inference of a grim, intense, punishing movie, Ghobadi proves himself to be a deft handler of divergent tones, beginning the proceedings in a whimsical fashion that gives way to the emotional wallop of an ending (although the delivery's relatively subtle). Marooned in Iraq provides a rare look into a group of people most know very little about, but please don't read those words as merely a token vote for this film's novelty. This deeply affecting movie triumphs because of the considerable skills of the filmmaker behind it.

Mirza, (Shahab Ebrahimi) an aging, popular Kurdish singer living in Iranian Kurdistan, enlists the help of his two musician sons, Barat (Faegh Mohammadi) and Audeh (Allah-Morad Rashtian), to help him find his ex-wife, Hanareh. The woman left Mirza 23 years earlier, and moved to Iraqi Kurdistan to continue her singing career, after the Iranian government had made it illegal for female singers to perform. Mirza learns that Hanareh is living on the Iraq/Iran border and is in need of the man's help, and following a bit of convincing, the singer and his two reluctant sons embark on the potentially harrowing journey across the border. On the way, they have their mode of transportation (a motorcycle) stolen by armed robbers and in a separate incident are forced to perform at a wedding ceremony.

Most of the film is told in a matter-of-fact manner as the trio discovers more peril the closer they get to their destination. But director Ghobadi's perspective remains surprisingly optimistic, capturing strangely uplifting moments like when the main trio comes across a class of Iraqi Kurd school children, whose teacher (Saeed Mohammadi) has taken them to a great vantage point to watch planes jet by overhead. The teacher explains that the planes have two purposes: 1.) to carry goods between cities and 2.) to transport and drop bombs -- "Like the ones that destroyed our school," the educator diligently informs.

Mirza and sons follow the class back to a Kurdish refugee camp, and it is from this point forward that the film begins its transformation. There are still some lighthearted moments to be had, as a tiny subplot concerning Audeh's quest to find an eighth wife, who will give him his first son (he has eleven daughters), continues, but soon the protagonists witness firsthand the effects of Hussein's destruction. Mirza learns that Hanerah wasn't exempt from the devastation and pushes on to find her.

The world depicted in this film is one that I (and most likely you) will never know. The sound of fighter planes roaring by fill the soundtrack, but war is by this point such a routine part of the Kurds' lives that the tools of battle are barely paid any mind, except when being the focus of the school exercise described previously. Ghobadi's visual scheme works nearly to perfection, capturing the otherworldly, snow-covered, mountainous terrain of the locations in sweeping wide shots, going handheld on the top of a moving truck in one scene and covering the human aspect of the film with a more objective frame. The mostly inexperienced actors perform well, and working to their advantage are roles that call mainly for understated reactions.

Marooned in Iraq is a political film by virtue of the simple fact that it has no choice but to be one. In an artistic climate (such as the one in the U.S.) where movies with political statements to espouse often do so in an arrogant fashion aimed to browbeat the viewer, it's easy to turn cynical and forget the importance of the voice cinema can provide in countries not afforded the freedoms we enjoy here. The sincerity of Ghobadi's message is another terrific example of the power an artist can wield when synthesizing his or her political/social concerns with an acute comprehension of their craft.

(A Wellspring Media release. Opens in LA on May 23, 2003. Previously opened in New York. Expands to more cities at later dates.)