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A Time For Drunken Horses (2000)

A Time For Drunken Horses cover art
Average rating: 67%
4720199
3.5
from 650 members
 
Starring: Ayoub Ahmadi, Rojin Younessi, Amaneh Ekhtiar-Dini, Nezhad Ekhtiar-Dini
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Studio: TARTAN VIDEO
Run time: 75 mins
Certificate: PG
User collections: something diferent
Genres: Drama
Languages: Farsi, Kurdish
Subtitles: English
Released: unknown

Brief synopsis of A Time For Drunken Horses

Bahman Ghobadi's tragic, yet unsentimental first feature is influenced by his own childhood in Iran's Kurdistan. In a remote Kurdish village on the Iran-Iraq border, five motherless children endure hardscrabble lives, as heavily burdened by responsibility and loss as a smuggler's mule. Ayoub (Ayoub Ahmadi) and his young sister, Ameneh (Ameneh Ekhtiar-Dini) work at a bazaar to earn money, while simultaneously caring for their tiny, ill brother, Madi (Mehdi Ekhtiar-Dini), who suffers from a form of dwarfism. When a landmine kills their smuggler father, Ayoub must provide for the family, despite his young age. He joins the smugglers, carrying heavy loads on his back through the snowy mountains toward Iraq, while dodging the constant threat of ambush and mines. Pressure on Ayoub increases as poor Madi's illness worsens. An operation in Iraq is Madi's only hope, yet Ayoub's earnings barely cover the family's necessities. A possible solution arises when the children's eldest sister, Rojin (Rojin Younessi) enters an arranged marriage with an Iraqi, who promises to pay for the operation. With its sparse dialogue, rough settings, and intimate view of Kurdish life, Ghobadi's first feature film is a simply told and very powerful tale.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Bahman Ghobadi's assistant stint on Abbas Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us and acting role in Samira Makhmalbaf's Blackboards have stood him in good stead for this gruelling yet moving insight into the daily struggle endured by dispossessed Kurds on the Iran—Iraq border. Refusing to flinch from the harshest of realities, writer/director Ghobadi focuses on the selfless determination of a couple of orphans to fund an operation for their severely handicapped brother. His juxtaposition of insistent close-ups and forbidding vistas highlights the reckless courage of the contraband smugglers, who resort to dosing their horses with alcohol to get them through the blizzard-blasted mountain passes.

Chicago Sun

"...The movie is brief, spare and heartbreaking....A TIME FOR BROKEN HORSES has the same kind of conviction as movies like THE BICYCLE THIEF, SALAAM BOMBAY and PIXOTE.."

Los Angeles Times

"...[A] beautiful, heart-rending film....A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES is a film of simplicity and power, beautifully shot and effortlessly acted by nonprofessionals..."

See all 6 Critics Reviews »

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 4 starsBeautiful and harrowing

A customer from London, England , 31/07/2004

Not a Hollywood blockbuster, obviously. Bruce Willis does not come riding into Iran to save the Kurds and make it all right. Instead, you have a magnificently photographed, beautifully 'acted' piece that is truly harrowing in its realism. The plot is relatively simple; the drama is not. I highly recommend this film, not least because it will shed light on the desperate plight of the people caught between Iraq and Iran with no home of their own.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsIt made me think!

A customer from Cambridge ENGLAND , 14/06/2005

This film made me think, made me appreciate my life and made me think that there are other styles of life too. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM A FILM?????

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsDrunken Mules

A customer from Leamington , 20/08/2004

This is a real eye-opening movie from Iran in the same vein as ?The Bicycle Thief? or ?Salaam Bombay?.

The film takes place near the Iran/Iraq border. Three children, one of them a shrunken cripple, are returning from the neighbouring town where they have been struggling to make a few toumen by wrapping glasses in old newspapers or helping to load mules for smugglers. As they return to their village they learn that their father, a smuggler, has been blown up by a landmine. The family is now alone and it is up to the eldest boy to try and earn enough money for an operation on his crippled brother even though the operation will only prolong the boy?s life for a few months. In order to do this he has to become a smuggler himself and risk the dangers of the trek across the mountains into Iraq. The ending is slightly upbeat supplying just a tiny ray of hope for the desperate children.

It does not have a great story, there is no great acting but it is the love of the children for each other despite the harshness of their lives that shines through and makes this a movie that is well worth seeing. It also makes you wonder just what effect sanctions imposed by the UN and western nations have on the lives of the common people in countries of the Third World.

The drunken horses of the title comes from the practice the smugglers have of putting alcohol into the mules drinking water so that they can cope with the cold. (Presumably the distributor thought it would attract more sympathetic attention by saying horses instead of mules.)

  4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsInsight into another culture

A customer from scotland , 24/02/2005

Quite hard to know that there is such a different parallel life going on where such hardship exists. Despite this an uplifting story, beautifully filmed and made me really care about the characters and the outcome for the courageous and resilient family concerned.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 5 starsVery harsh existence

crispin40 from Stirling, Scotland , 31/05/2005

This film portrays a very harsh way of life from the point of view of a small family of orphans. Filming is superb and the young actors are all extremely good. It reminded us in a way of 'The Story of a weeping Camel'

Some other reviewer on this site thought the ending was upbeat but I'm afraid we found it inconclusive and possibly tragic. Having watched 'Salaam Bombay' 3 days ago and 'Noi Albinoi' last night, we feel we are really 'into' films about deprived children in austere surroundings!

An excellent film and a must for all to see.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 stars

jcar from LONDON , 09/03/2004

A raw film which charts the harsh realities of life in a Kurdish village, on the Iran-Iraq border. It almost feels like a documentary - all the performances are natural and authentic. The story centres on a young boy (Ayoub) and his attempts to earn enough money by smuggling to pay for his brother's operation. It?s all beautifully filmed, and perfectly placed - there aren't many films that run for only 75 minutes - but that?s all that?s needed here. Simple, moving & profound - if you ever get sick of Hollywood schlock, then consider this as an alternative - it's the perfect antidote.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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