A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
In Bahman Ghobadi's A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES (ZAMANI BARAYÉ MASTI ASBHA), two poor kids, Ayoub (Ayoub Ahmadi) and Ameneh (Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini), care for their older, 17-year-old brother Madi (Madi Ekhtiar-dini), who is a sad looking dwarf. They need to find money for Madi's life-saving operation and get him across the border into Iraq where the operation will be performed. Although this might sound dramatic, which it is briefly in a tear-jerking ending, most of the movie is a hardscrabble, slice-of-life story in which nothing much happens other than slogging through deep snow.
Living the life of smugglers, the children are part of the homeless Kurdish minority in Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Their plight is made clear by the story. The ragamuffins work a life straight out of Dickens as they just barely scrape by in jobs helping the smugglers. Large, tractor-sized tires are apparently one of the most popular items on the black market, and one mule can carry two tires -- just barely. The film's name comes from the spiking of the horses' water as a way to help them cope with the intense cold. (This is a picture that does appear to violate the strict American rules against actual violence against animals during the filming of a motion picture. The horses are clearly beaten and kicked in the head when they get too drunk to walk.)
Among the film's most memorable moments are the sounds of rolling thunder rippling across the mountain tops as the Kurdish smugglers try to avoid another ambush. What you are left with when you leave the theater are a few nice images but little more.
A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES runs 1:17. The film is in Kurdish and Farsi with English subtitles. It is not rated but might be PG-13 for mature themes and animal violence and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
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