Imagine Istanbul

I met Bahman Ghobadi, the extraordinary filmmaker from Iran for a simple reason: I wanted to. I wanted to meet him because his film “Turtles Can Fly” had touched my soul. Maybe that is the definition of a great artist – defined as one who touches the heart and soul of the viewer. Is the great artist one who connects for some reason with his audience? One who erases the distance between viewer and creator? One who transverses the bridge between cultures, civilizations, continents and reveals what is essentially the oneness of humanity. The story, the struggle of mankind to define itself.

“Turtles Can Fly” – I’ve seen it three times. The first time I saw it, I cried. It is a story of children in a refugee camp on the Turkish/Iraqi border at the outbreak of the invasion of Iraq. They might be Kurdish children in the refugee camp; I can’t quite remember. I think I cried because of the difficulties these children face in the adult-made world of war and the cruelty of man against man. Some of these children will survive and some will fall. How close Ghobadi comes to the souls of these children. These children could be our children. One could only weep when they weep or suffer, laugh when they are funny, view with pride their resilience and resourcefulness.

I felt connected to these children and to Mr. Ghobadi’s work. I had discovered the Kurdish people and a Kurdish child in Istanbul in the year 2003. This is what my site Imagine Istanbul is all about. I am imagining a perfect world, I am connecting to a people I had never known to exist. I am seeking out the unknown, represented by the little boy/his people. I am connected to this little boy who shines shoes for a living in a city far away from my home. I am seeking “The Other”. I should not close my eyes and look away. I want to know why he suffers. Could I alleviate that suffering for a little while? Could I change anything? That I never knew his people, blame my education or lack of it. Blame my biased interest in things only of western civilization. Blame my world somehow.

So I wanted to meet this great filmmaker who sees into the souls and the suffering of children. The lucky opportunity came at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006.

In the end, it was easy for me to meet this Iranian film director because according to the theory of “Six Degrees of Separation”, a mathematical formula, the theory of the “shrinking world”, a play and then a movie by John Guare, we know everyone in the world separated only by six people. Through Six Degrees of Separation, I already knew Mr. Ghobadi. There was an Iranian man at my workplace whose best friend is the cousin of Mr. Ghobadi. This is how I already knew Mr. Ghobadi who lives in a world far away from mine. I’ve seen this happen before. I met a woman in London, England and then a couple of years later, I ended up working with her cousin in Toronto. Sometimes I wonder who else I know through the theory of Six Degrees of Separation? Are we really all so connected?

Niwemang or Half Moon (in English) was playing at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006 and I was lucky enough to obtain a ticket – one of the last tickets available to get into the film. But I hadn’t bought the ticket online before the film was scheduled to play and all the tickets were sold out. So with a few extra tickets left over for “noshows”, I had to beg and bargain for it. I pestered all the ushers, the ticket sellers, anyone connected with the Festival. I ended up getting the last ticket. I didn’t get the best seat, I ended up sitting in the front row to the extreme right hand corner of the cinema, but I didn’t mind. After the film, Ghobadi answered questions from the audience through his interpreter, but I am too shy to ask anything because I always think everyone else will ask more worthy questions than I. However, as Mr Ghobadi and his interpreter left, like a kid let out of school, I charged ahead of everyone just to talk to him. I gave him some gifts of my own creations but I’ll never know if he kept them.

Half Moon is the story of a Kurdish Iranian musician, Mamo, who begins a difficult journey with his sons to perform in Iraqi-Kurdistan after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Despite warnings from his older son who gives him the message from a fortune teller that something bad will happen to him when the full moon comes, Mamo will not stop his journey. He sets off with his sons on an orange mini bus through the beautiful mountainous winter landscapes of Iran and northern Iraq. Despite the obstacles, Mamo will not give up his “quest” because he has been banned from performing in northern Iraq for many years. He must also bring the woman Hesho, who is an exiled female singer along with them in the mini bus, but it is forbidden for women to travel with men. But Hesho’s voice has lost its power and beauty because she has lost her confidence to sing in a country where women’s singing is banned. On their journey through the mountains, they encounter the exiled female singers, dressed in their national costumes singing from on high like heavenly angels.

I find it hard to believe a country would censors the singing of women because I can’t believe that any child, white, black, pink or blue or any nationality in the world would be denied the pleasure of their mother singing to them. A mother singing to a child is natural, no matter what culture or part of the world one is from. It’s so weird. I sort of get the feeling that Iran is another country that hates women… but that’s just my own sentiment. Someone suggested to me that it is not hatred, but rather, fear by the group who holds power over the oppressed class. I’m left pondering oppression and fear.

What a beautiful story Half Moon is! The journey, although difficult is comic at times. Mamo is a man who must do what he is born to do no matter what this cruel landscape of adversity will present to him. A harsh landscape made harsher by nature and man. It is an excellent film, devoid of Hollywood prettiness, another film by Ghobadi of the strength of the human spirit to survive and overcome whatever difficulties, be they natural or man-made, they must face on their journey.

I’d like to see his other films, most specifically “A Time for Drunken Horses”, but it’s difficult to get a copy with English subtitles. The copy at our central library has been reserved for the next year ahead. Most DVD/video stores don’t carry many quality foreign films.

Ghobadi is highly regarded by the international filmmaking community and the recipient of many international film festival awards. Bravo to Ghobadi for bringing his world and his vision to us! Thank you Mr. Ghobadi.

Read more about Bahman Ghobadi and his films on the Mij movie production website. Photographs courtesy of MijFilm, Official Website of Bahman Ghobadi.

If you would like to own the films of Bahman Ghobadi to add to your DVD collection, here are some selections you can purchase through Amazon.

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