Flick Pick

The new film by Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi (who gave us the superb tale of mountain smuggling and pursuit A Time for Drunken Horses) has a most provocative title -- Marooned in Iraq -- and addresses a crucial contemporary subject: the slaughter of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein's regime and...

By Bill Gallo

January 22, 2004

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The new film by Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi (who gave us the superb tale of mountain smuggling and pursuit A Time for Drunken Horses) has a most provocative title -- Marooned in Iraq -- and addresses a crucial contemporary subject: the slaughter of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein's regime and the astonishing resilience of a long-tormented people. Wrote Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Daily News: "[The film] devastatingly presents the case for Saddam's ouster, regardless of how much a threat he may or may not have been to anyone beyond his borders." And this from Dave Kehr of the New York Times: "Here, in the mourning crowds and lonely survivors, are the human faces that trump any statistic about the human cost of war."

Marooned in Iraq will screen at 6:30 p.m., with a discussion to follow, on Sunday, January 25, at the Nomad Theatre, 1410 Quince Avenue in Boulder, as part of the Present Tense Film Soiree Series. A $6 donation is suggested for admission. For information, call 303-938-1132 or visit www.presenttensefilms.com.

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