
After their father dies, a family of five are forced to survive on their own in a Kurdish village on the border of Iran and Iraq. Matters are made worse when 12 year old Ayoub, the new head of the family, is told that his handicapped brother, Madi, needs an immediate operation in order to remain alive. This heartbreaking tale shows the lengths to which a family will go in order to survive in the harshest of conditions, where even the horses are fed liquor in order to work.... (Full plot summary below)
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After their father dies, a family of five are forced to survive on their own in a Kurdish village on the border of Iran and Iraq. Matters are made worse when 12 year old Ayoub, the new head of the family, is told that his handicapped brother, Madi, needs an immediate operation in order to remain alive. This heartbreaking tale shows the lengths to which a family will go in order to survive in the harshest of conditions, where even the horses are fed liquor in order to work.
Leave your thoughts about A Time for Drunken Horses.
| Boston GlobeJay CarrDeeper and richer in humanity than all but a handful of the American films released this year. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe tale is simply told but stunningly photographed and superbly acted in the best tradition of modern Iranian cinema. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSallePresents us with characters of such humanity and dignity that it begins to seem obscene that until now we haven't exactly given all that much thought to the Kurds. |
| Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonShowing us a world through a child's eyes, A Time for Drunken Horses speaks so truthfully and well that it breaks the heart and scars the conscience. |
| Dallas ObserverBill GalloIt's difficult to imagine a more eloquent tribute. |
| Film.comPeter BrunetteIt simultaneously wows you with the stark beauty of its images, a beauty that leads to another, related kind of truth that is equally crucial. It's not to be missed. |
| Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThe nonprofessional cast of Bahman Ghobadi's remarkable, slow, rough edged feature reveals a simple, piercing grimness and determination framed by the gray, icy landscape of Iranian Kurdistan. |
| Portland OregonianKim MorganA profoundly anxious picture that from its first frame holds you, clenched, never able to let go, even after its unresolved coda. |
| Baltimore SunChris KaltenbachThe real hero here is Ghobadi, whose love and respect for the culture in which he was raised shines through every frame. |
| VarietyDeborah YoungIt is all the more heart-wrenching for being realistic. Its portrait of child labor brooks no sentimentality and no cliches. |