MAROONED IN IRAQ
Directed by: Bahman Ghobadi.
Produced by: Bahman Ghobadi.
Written by: Bahman Ghobadi.
Director of Photography: Sa'ed Nikzat & Shahriar Asadi.
Edited by: Hayedeh Safi-Yari.
Music by: Arsalan Komkar.
Released by: Wellspring.
Country of Origin: Iran. 97 min. Unrated.
With: Shahab Ebrahimi, Faegh Mohammadi & Allah-Morad Rashtian.
DVD Special Features: Director Interview. Director's Filmography. Trailers. Web Links. English Subtitles.

In the beginning of this engrossing drama, a thriving black marketer in Iranian Kurdistan praises Saddam Hussein, “Thanks to him I make more money.” His clientele are the incoming Iraqi refugees following Saddam’s crushing of the 1991 Kurdish uprising. But later in the film when he has been robbed, stripped, and left stranded in the frigid mountains by thieves, his sentiments toward Saddam change: “May he burn in hell.” Filmed in 2002 in Iran, this film will undoubtedly resonate with viewers after this year’s Iraqi war. It follows an aging Kurdish father in a search of one of his wives who left him years ago with another husband for Iraq, where she’s allowed to publicly sing. He has heard that she needs his help. Mirza (Ebrahimi), a respected folk singer, insists that his two sons, both musicians, accompany him: Audeh (Rashtian), with seven wives and 11 daughters, rants like a Kurdish Henry VIII, and obedient Barat (Mohammadi) owns a highly valued motorbike. Bickering along the way, their odyssey takes them to refugee camps, a shotgun wedding, a close call with Saddam’s bombs, and into decimated Kurdish Iraq. Although the plot may be not always be clear (why does Mirza need Audeh to leave his family?), it is touching without ever being manipulative with a healthy dose of dark humor as an anodyne to this close-knit community’s pain.
May 26, 2003

Extras: In his revealing 20-minute interview, director Ghobadi offers his own method - “The scenes I write are taken from real life. I recreate real life. When you do that, the actors don’t act anymore. They just re-live their lives in front of my camera.” KT
November 3, 2003