KissEnglishPasto ........................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, Colombia...and ORLANDO, FL I've seen films in DOZENS of different languages...To the best of my recollection, MAROONED IN IRAQ is the first film I have ever seen in Kurdish! What an interesting window into Kurdish culture, recent history, music and traditions director Bahman Ghobadi has provided us! "...If I leave town, what will happen to my 7 wives and 11 daughters?" says son Audeh to father Mirza. With those words it really doesn't take much for the viewer to figure out why Audeh keeps taking on more wives, does it?MAROONED begins with a claim that The Kurds, numbering about 30 million and forming sizable ethnic minorities in several different countries, are the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. (Tried, but was unable to confirm this claim.) Please be patient with MAROONED. About 15 or 20 minutes in, I said to myself, "If this doesn't flag my interest soon, it is never going to!" Soon after, I was mesmerized.This film evoked just about every human emotion imaginable. About 3/4 of the way through, I touched my cheek, and to my immense chagrin, I found I had teared up, but yet, I still can't put my finger on why! 10 minutes later a scene in MAROONED proved that on-screen hysterical grief can be contagious! Watching and learning about these Western Asian traditionally nomadic people fascinated me. How they maintain perspective and their sense of humor despite having been the object of genocidal efforts from Sadam Hussein is absolutely inspirational!Director Ghobadi has a penchant for pulling the rug out from under the viewer's feet. One moment the father and two sons family are doing a Three Stooges out-take, and the next moment are mourning the death of a friend; Are performing some music in public that's reminiscent of the Bar scene from Star-Wars, and a moment later they're staring genocide in the face. Ghobadi manages these rapid-fire transitions magnificently...KUDOS! 9*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA! Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

bigmoecrusader The Story of a well-known Iranian Kurdish singer Mirza, and his two sons, called Marooned in Iraq, can be interpreted in many ways. One of the major issues Mirza and his two sons are obviously facing are there relations with women. There journey to find Mirza wife from many years past, is one of transformation and discovery for the three men. There struggles with woman are seen thought the movie, and at the conclusion of the story, the three men had a better understanding of woman.Mirza was a very old man in the story, and he had found out that his ex-wife was in trouble in Iraq. And with the help of his two sons, he searched for his ex-wife Hanareh. One of the reasons Mirza drove away his ex-wife was his prejudice against her and the prejudice he had against women in general. After years of being separated from her, he had realized and had a better understanding of his problem; his journey to find her began when he had heard word that she was in trouble. Mirza encounters unexpected events at the end of the story, and it showed that the Will of God was the reasoning behind these events.Barat one of Mirza's sons, was also facing a struggle during the movie. Barat seemed to be withdrawn from the world, what makes this apparent was how he was always wearing his sunglasses. His struggles with women in his past years have been unsuccessful, and while his brother had 11 wives he had no wives. Barat was also prejudice against woman and because of this prejudice; he drove off a woman that he had fallen in love with because he said she couldn't sing in public. During his long journey he looses everything, his motorcycle, cloths, money, but what he found was the life that he had forgotten. He runs into the woman with the pretty voice in Iraq, and he realizes who he really was and the life that he wanted. Even though Barat was withdrawn from the world, because of the Will of God, he found the woman he wanted to marry.Audeh the second son to Mirza struggled for years to produce a male ere. After marrying 11 wives he had still not come up with a son. On his journey to find Hanareh, he was searching for another wife to try and produce a son. But he soon realized that he could adopt a son from hundreds of orphans. The unexpected events that led up to him finding out that he could just adopt a son, made it apartment that between the Will of God, and having deep faith in God his prayers did come true. Just like in many foreign movies that haven't had the American influence on them, there was no resolution, and there was a great deal ending that was left up for interpretation. The director made it apartment that he wanted the ending left for the audience's imagination. The director gives us hints, but it's up to us to decide what happens to the family. If you watch this, you will be awed by the landscape, but the plot of the movie is very boring in the literal sense, and very exciting in the philosophical sense.

grkracer35 Director Bahman Ghobadi of Marooned in Iraq does a good job of showing the everyday life of the nomadic Kurds under the chaotic rule of Saddam Hussein but perhaps Ghobadi forgot he was making a movie not a documentary. Outside of the last thirty minutes, this movie is poorly put together. Missing subtitles, pointless scenes, unintentional humor, and random characters plague this film.Within the first twenty minutes the entire plot is given away leaving the middle to be nothing but unintentional humor with a few bumps along the way. The overall seriousness of the film was cast aside by the humor of the not so bright Barat, and the bumbling Audeh. From Barat not being able to speak to women, and Audeh wanting a son so bad that he'll ask anyone for their hand in marriage, the subplot is almost meaningless. While this kept the movie moderately entertaining, the light hearted side of the film is forgotten once Mirza reaches the area in which Hanareh is supposed to be. The honest scenes of mass graves and weeping women are just all too surreal once it's on screen. It is these last scenes in the movie that really take it to another level and is completely unexpected with what the viewer is being shown throughout the earlier parts of the film.Overall this film is fairly enjoyable with many problem areas such as editing, subtitles and overall meaning of the film. The first twenty and last thirty minutes are the only needed parts of film; the rest merely seems to be filler to create a whole film. The closing scenes will take your breath, but it still begs the question of whether it makes up for having to watch the not-so-worth-it middle parts. This film is far from anything Hollywood especially the ending and therefore I would not recommend this for the average American movie-goer. If anyone is interested in the life of Kurds or anyone living during the Iran-Iraq War, this film will certainly enlighten you.

akg96 What distorts viewers like these who write about this film? Touching? Yes, by boredom. Heh, it not that I'm not caring about people, the Kurds, but this movie besides the interesting mountains & some music, which is repetitive, there was nothing much else of interest. It's subtitles besides. I didn't know that in that language you'd have to say so many words, & have so little meaning from saying so much. No money to make a more polished film means you hear so many jets that are suppose to be flying over, but they are never there, except for once very far away. This film is about cruelty & inhumanity against man (& women too). Depressing to some easily influenced & who lose their sense of self & boundaries. The ending is no better.