Turtles Can Fly

2005-01-07 • 1h 38m •

Drama

7.7

User Score

228 votes

Overview

Turtles Can Fly tells the story of a group of young children near the Turkey-Iraq border. They clean up mines and wait for the Saddam regime to fall.

Bahman Ghobadi

Director

Bahman Ghobadi

Writer

Top Billed Cast

Soran Ebrahim

Mr. Satellite (Soran)

Avaz Latif

Agrin

Saddam Hossein Feysal

Pashow

Hiresh Feysal Rahman

Hengov

Abdol Rahman Karim

Riga

Ajil Zibari

Shirkooh

Movie Details

Status

Released

Original Language

Budget

$N/A

Revenue

$1,075,462

Runtime

1h 38m

Release Date

2005-01-07

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Reviews

griggs79

2025-06-23T10:56:11.150Z

_Turtles Can Fly_ is a haunting anti-war film set in a Kurdish refugee camp before the 2003 Iraq invasion. Shot with real refugee children, it captures displacement with raw authenticity. “Satellite,” a savvy teen, leads landmine-clearing kids with dry humour and grit. The performances, shaped by lived trauma, hit hard. The final moments are devastating but never exploitative. Not an easy watch—unforgettable and vital.