A Time for Drunken Horses was directed by Bahman Ghobadi. The Iranian film was released in 2000 and highlights the plight of the Kurdish people in Iran. This plight is captured through the eyes of Kurdish children ( Yildirim , 2015; Farahmand, 2010; Sadr , 2002). In the film, a Kurdish family residing in Iran seeks to survive following the demise of their parents. On being orphaned, Ayoub, the family's eldest boy becomes the head of the family. He is subsequently forced to do any work that is available to him in a bid to ensure that his family does not fall apart. The family is also faced with the challenge of taking care of Madi. Madi is Ayoub’s brother who is handicapped and requires a medical operation. It is the need to secure funds for this operation that pushes Ayoub to do whatever it takes to make money. This film exposes the viewer to not only the struggles of the young family but also the Kurdish identity in a war-torn country. It also highlights other issues that are part of the Kurdish identity including women’s roles, gender issues, culture, language, and assimilation ( Yildirim , 2015). A Time for Drunken Horses won the Caméra d'Or award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. This paper will first discuss the representation of Kurdish identity in Kurdish cinema. Secondly, it will highlight this ethnic group’s struggle by focusing on the Kurdish children and the impact that the Kurdish conflict has on them.
A Time for Drunken Horses is set against a backdrop of bloody history and political conflict. Nevertheless, the film is not political. Instead, it tells the story of a family that goes through unprecedented hardships in a bid to survive in a hostile environment, in the process showing extraordinary resilience. The hardship and courage displayed in the film are a reflection of the day-to-day experiences of the Kurdish people, particularly those living in the war zone (Peters, 2013). There are approximately 30 million Kurdish people whose origin is Iran. However, due to the war, this group is currently spread out residing in various countries including Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq ( Yildirim , 2015). These countries influence the cultural identity of the Kurds as the group struggles to retain its culture and language in the different host countries. Consequently, only a small number is involved in the fighting in Kurdistan. The film seeks to highlight the realities that face Kurdish people and bring to fore a more positive truth about this group.
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The use of children in the film was aimed at steering clear of politics so as to adequately capture the implications of the armed conflict at the Iran-Iraq border ( Sadr , 2002). Thus, children are the film’s primary subject. A Time for Drunken Horses shows the life in a border town that has been ravaged by years of war. In such circumstances, it is common for a significant number of children to be orphans. These children may have lost their parents directly through the war or indirectly from landmines. Given how common and protracted the war is in Kurdistan, the struggles presented in the film can be viewed as being part of the group’s cultural identity ( Yildirim , 2015). Hardship and struggle amongst the Kurdish people are, therefore, akin to a rite of passage. While this may be shocking to the viewers, to the Kurdish people it is a way of life or an unavoidable endeavor in the pursuit of survival. Therefore, the Kurdish children as portrayed in the film are remnants of the war and conflict at the Iran-Iraq border (Sadr, 2002). Since they are orphaned, these children do not have a choice but to fight for their survival. This necessity robs them of their childhood by forcing them to take adult roles as exemplified by Ayoub. The film is a reality check of the lives of Kurdish children, which when extrapolated reveals the identity of the Kurdish people.
Ghobadi 's film introduces the viewer to a group of Kurdish orphans living in abject poverty at the Iran-Iraq border. The children's' day-to-day life entails traveling to a market in Iraq to work or participating in various smuggling activities. They do such odd jobs as wrapping parcels and ferrying heavy boxes using their backs. They are also forced to transport heavy tires in chilling weather and snowy terrain. This work is not only too harsh for their age but is not well-paid Likewise, they are cheated on their earnings several times. These events portray the immense physical and emotional pain that the children bear. On the other hand, the children cannot cross the border peacefully owing to their Kurdish identity. For instance, they are searched and their books confiscated as they attempt to cross the border. The Kurdish identity, in this case, is portrayed through the books. The presence of books shows that the Kurds are keen on reading and pursuing an education. A Time for Drunken Horses places children at the centre of the action. While this strategy may be viewed as being evasive or opportunistic, exploiting the power of children's faces is common in Kurdish cinema ( Naficy , 2011; Sadr , 2002). The film successfully portrays the terrifying emotions that characterize the lives of Kurdish children. In this case, the children are connected by the fact that they are orphans ( Yildirim , 2015). They are connected by the grim nature of their life and the fact that they have to raise funds to pay for Madi’s operation.
Madi’s illness puts financial pressure on the entire family. With both their parents dead, Ayoub is forced to come up with a plan of raising money to pay for Madi's treatment. Although Madi desperately needs to be operated, the procedure can help him survive only for a few months. Nevertheless, Ayoub embarks on smuggling tires to Iraq in the company of adults. The trips introduce the viewer to the numerous hardships that the children have to endure. For instance, they have to go through ambushes, minefields and border guards. Besides leading overburdened mules, they also have to embrace snow-covered and freezing mountains ( Sadr , 2002). The children spike the mules’ water to ensure that they keep moving. It is from this action that Ghobadi got the name of his film. Following spiking of their water, the mules are forced to stagger through the snow in a drunken state. It is also notable that the mules are incapable of complaining. The same applies to the children who are forced by circumstances to carry burdens that are far too heavy for their age ( Yildirim , 2015).
Besides painting a grim picture of the children's lives, the film also emphasizes how love binds the family ( Yildirim , 2015 ). The attachment that the brothers and sisters have with Madi their disabled brother particularly stands out, suggesting unification and strong will as crucial attributes of Kurdish identity. To assist Madi, the entire family is forced to make personal sacrifices. For instance, Rojin, Madi’s sister, agrees to tie the knot with an Iraqi Kurdistan man based on the agreement that his family would give financial support to facilitate Madi’s operation ( Yildirim , 2015) . This move causes a lot of crying in the family as the brothers and sisters reckon that Rojin is abandoning them. The wedding plans do not go well since on meeting at the border, Rojin’s in-laws refuse to go home with Madi as it had been agreed upon. Instead, they send him back to Ayoub. They also send a mule with him to act as reparation. Ayoub is thus forced to look for an alternative plan. He eventually decides to go and sell the mule in Iraq. The film ends in suspense since it is not clear whether the mule is sold and whether Madi gets cured. However, it is clear that political events inevitably affect children’s lives. Thus, A Time for Drunken Horses depicts how military events eventually alter the Kurdish children’s lives.
References
Farahmand, A. (2010). Disentangling the international festival circuit: Genre and Iranian cinema. Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories , 263-281.
Naficy, H. (2011). Neorealism Iranian Style. In Global Neorealism: The Transnational History of a Film Style . University Press of Mississippi.
Peters, J. (2013). Cinematic Representations of Iran (Bachelor's thesis).
Sadr, H. R. (2002). Children in contemporary Iranian cinema: When we were children. The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity , 227-237.
Yildirim, S. (2015). Identifying Kurds in Bahman Ghobadi’s Films: a Film Semiotic Study. Studies About Languages , (26), 127-148.
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