Marooned In Iraq: Real Life Considered

I've been in a movie-mood lately.

I just watched Marooned In Iraq, by Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, for the second time with a friend who watched it for the first time. After an hour, my friend says "Am I not getting something?" Although he'd been enjoying the humor and the characters, he looked bored. I can't blame him. The story of an Iranian Kurdish father and his sons walking across country into Iraqi Kurdistan to find the father's lost love moves at exactly the same pace as it would to walk across the country. And that's the beauty of it. It bores you just as real life bores you, but the day after you've watched it, you recall the wrinkled faces and quirky mannerisms of the main characters, the vast natural landscapes and changing skies, the villagers-turned-nomads warming their hands on makeshift fires, airplanes symbolizing war and freedom simultaneously through the destruction of lives and the hope of children as they watch them soar.

Although the film takes 97 minutes to watch, the real affect comes over you in the days after. There's a lot to consider as this film's message unfolds slowly - just like life.