Zoooma A beautiful film. The first time director won an award at Canne for his effort -- the judges were quite impressed. So am I. It shows an interesting slice of life on the Iranian border with Iraq in the Kurdistan region. The actors are amateurs who are able to give the most warm and genuine performances as the characters in this situation. There's no message to take away that war is wrong or anything like that. It's just a slice of life. There actually isn't much of a message other than you gotta do for your family what you gotta do. It's truly eye-opening the lengths that people will go to in order to simply survive. We complain about the most idiotic things in our world with Coca Cola and college and pot and beer and gas stations and pizza delivery and ipods and laptops and torrenting. We are schmucks. Look at these people and feel blessed. Maybe look at these people and wonder how you might be able to help. There might not be a lot that one can do, but there's got to be something. If not then just be aware. This movie can at least do that, show us how life is somewhere we may never go or ever even find out about.8.6 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

awmurshedkar A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES – 9.8/10 Director: Bahman Ghobadi Writer:Bahman GhobadiAnother Iranian classic: a tale of love and unimaginable suffering, a tale so surreal that is hard to come to terms with the unfair nature of life and the stoic mannerism in which it is dealt with. When a director's first film wins Camera d'Or at Cannes, there is a good reason why you need to see it. The film follows the standard Iranian formula of children being the central protagonists and driving force in the film. One might feel this is exploitation, and may be to some extent it is, but placing children in situations that they face in reality does not amount to tear jerking melodrama. The film is rather brute and unflinching in its approach. It quickly moves from character to story and continues to enhance both as it proceeds. Cinéma vérité, the style which has come to define Iranian cinema over the course of the last few decades once again brings to light the documentary treatment necessary for such a subject that would otherwise classify as queasy. Border crossing and smuggling on the Kurdish-Iraqi-Iranian border, the populace suffering at the hands of the military appear in several other films. While in this case, the film deals with the dilemma of Ayoub, played by Ayoub Ahmadi, who has to find a way to garner the money necessary for his ailing spasticated brother Madi, convincingly portrayed by Madi Ekhtiar-dini, the backdrop nevertheless speaks of political turmoil affecting lives of innocent civilians on day to day basis. The indescribable state of people living in harsh conditions are best put forth by an objective narrative, without any attempts to milk the situation in an attempt to tug at the emotional chords of the viewers.A Time for Drunken Horses is a must see, an indispensable gem to the list of many from Iranian directors. While it is not suited for the audience looking for a pop corn film, nor is it meant to appease or please, it does have moments that will stay with you. While I can hardly imagine why any mass audience would like to see stark realities, especially ones they wish and are thankful to have escaped, the film is an experience, one that makes it essential viewing.

Renelson Antonius Morelos Just like the other Iranian films that I've seen---Jafar Panahi's "White Balloon," Majid Majidi's "Children of Heaven," Abbas Kiarostami's "Where Is My Friend's Home?" and Ebrahim Forouzesh's "The Key"---Bahman Gobadi's "Zamani baraye masti ashba" also has children as the central characters.But whereas the children in Panahi's, Majidi's, Kiarostami's and Forouzesh's films appear to struggle with "simple" problems (gold fish, a pair of shoes, a friend's lost notebook and a house key), those in Gobadi's film deal with problems that take on a large-scale significance:how to keep one's body and soul together amid the escalating war between two Muslim countries, the protagonists being literally situated in the middle. As his first full-length feature, Gobadi aims, as he tells us in the prologue, to make the viewers aware of the plight of the people of Kurdistan, who are unjustly marginalized and neglected, their situation becoming all the more worst as the village stands on the border between the warring Iran and Iraq (it's the time of the Gulf War).As I've already suggested, the focus here is particularly on the orphaned Kurdish siblings, headed by the affectionate and vulnerable Ayoub.To support his brothers and sisters, and most specially the ailing Madi, who needs to be operated in Iraq, Ayoub works for a group of smugglers who uses children in transporting illegally-obtained goods to Iraq. The opening scene of a pressure-filled and hurriedly-done packing of smuggled products, presented with the use of a hand-held camera and undiluted colors (so that it has the look and feel of a documentary), and the shots of the snow-covered mountain along which the group of adults and children carry their goods, in a manner that is threatening rather than awe-inspiring, make it clear that the road ahead for the young protagonists won't be a smooth one, that life won't be a piece of cake, as should be proper for them, being tender and innocent as they are. Though Gobadi chooses to present the story objectively, that is, in a manner where sympathy and hate won't be readily expressed to the persons concerned, being aware of the fact that theirs is a life being largely conditioned by the circumstances, I still think that the film belongs to the children, most specially to Ayoub. It's hard not to admire Ayoub's selfless devotion to his siblings, even if it means having to be used callously by a group of adult smugglers (one of them is an uncle), having to endure the coldness, the thick blanket of snow and the steepness of the mountains as they transport the goods using "drunken horses" (hence, the title) and having to "sacrifice" an elder sister to an arranged marriage in the hope of having Madi operated, courtesy of the groom's family (which turns out to be a false hope). One would think that such kind of fate is too much for a young child, but like the above-mentioned Iranian films, "Zamani baraye masti ashba" ends with the image of a child quietly enjoying a moment of triumph.What will become of him (or her) from thereon? Whatever, what counts for the time being is the simple joy brought about by a simple victory.

jowang Iranians really know how to make unique movies without being polluted by the capitalistic dominating western cinima. The respectable Abbas Kiarostami has opened the eyes of the world cinima viewers.And now Bahman Ghobadi follows by his outstanding "Time for the drunken horse". It's low budget, simple story, amateur actors, real persons...and it's a great cinema. There're a lot for the western film industry to learn from the iranian films.