This Kurd's life

>> Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi's A Time for Drunken Horses is so real it hurts

by SIOBHAN O'CONNOR

There is nothing metaphorical or melodramatic about Bahman Ghobadi's A Time for Drunken Horses. In fact, the Iranian Kurd has gone out of his way to avoid said devices in his brutally real and affecting film. Ghobadi got some attention a few years back when he appeared in and assistant directed Kiarostami's Le Vent nous emportera, and he's bound to capture more with this, his first feature.

Drunken Horses, which won several awards at Cannes this year (most notably the Best First Film award), is set in a remote Kurdish bordertown in Iran. The film deals with the hardships of five orphaned siblings struggling to get by and earn enough money to pay for an operation for Madi, the eldest brother who suffers from a life-threatening case of dwarfism. The 12-year-old Ayoub is the man of the family who spends his wintry days working for a contraband smuggling operation across the Iraqi border with the help of his dizzy, drunk mule. Often getting screwed out of every dinar that comes his way, the believably selfless Ayoub will do anything to ensure Madi's wellness for the short term; one of the sisters even agrees to marry a boy she doesn't love because his family promises to (but never does) pay for Madi's operation.

Using a non-professional ensemble of child actors (all of whom use their real names in the film), Ghobadi's documentary-like style manages to convey these kids' hardships without ever succumbing to cloying pathos or audience manipulation. As a result, the effect volleys between uncomfortable coolness and a very understated sensitivity--something that may leave some audiences cold. Because the film is based on a true story it would have been all too easy for Ghobadi to play the sympathy card and create one of those "This One's For the Children"-style films with swelling music and close-ups of sad little girls with tears streaming down their frost-bitten cheeks. Instead, Ghobadi's introduced some tough characters who defy stereotypes, making Drunken Horses a successful braiding of fact, fiction and style. Considered the first ever film by an Iranian Kurd, Ghobadi has set a strong precedent for other Kurdish directors to come.

A Time for Drunken Horses opens friday, Feb. 16