A Time for Drunken Horses (2000) Zamani barayé masti asbha (original title)

Director:

Bahman Ghobadi

Writer:

Bahman Ghobadi

Release Date:

13 September 2000 (France)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Young Iranian Kurds (brothers and sisters) try to save the youngest of them, who is seriously ill.

Plot Keywords:

Kurd | Iraq | Iran | Husband Wife Relationship | Kurdistan

Awards:

11 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Ayoub Ahmadi	...	Ayoub
Rojin Younessi	...	Rojin
Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini	...	Ameneh
Madi Ekhtiar-dini	...	Madi
Kolsolum Ekhtiar-dini
Karim Ekhtiar-dini
Rahman Salehi
Osman Karimi
Nezhad Ekhtiar-dini

Directed by
Bahman Ghobadi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bahman Ghobadi

Produced by
Bahman Ghobadi	....	producer

Original Music by
Hossein Alizadeh

Cinematography by
Saed Nikzat

Film Editing by
Samad Tavazoee

Art Direction by
Bahman Ghobadi

Production Management
Omid Rastbin	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ali Reza Amini	....	assistant director
Kaveh Moinfar-Tabinghobi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Mehdi Darabi	....	sound
Mortesza Dehnavi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Dj Baratimehr	....	photographer

Production Companies

• Bahman Ghobadi Films
• Farabi Cinema Foundation
• MK2 Productions

Distributors

• MK2 Diffusion (2000) (France) (theatrical)
• Contact Film Cinematheek (2001) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Look Now! (2000-2001) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Shooting Gallery (2000) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• AV Channel (2002) (Australia) (DVD)
• Arthaus (2001) (Norway) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2003) (Australia) (DVD)
• Mongrel Media (Canada)
• Moskwood Media (2001) (Netherlands) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Zamani barayé masti asbha" - Iran (original title)
"Intoxication for Horses" - International (English title) (informal title)

Runtime:

80 min | Argentina:85 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Iran

Language:

Kurdish | Persian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:All | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:6 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:11 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG

Company:

Bahman Ghobadi Films

Trivia:

The first feature film in Kurdish, a language which was banned in Iranian schools since the 1940s, to achieve an international release.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Zendegi dar meh (1999)

Truly 'foreign' film

"Time of Drunken Horses" is an uncompromising film about love and perseverance. It closely resembles the Iranian film, "Color of Paradise", and the Chinese "Not One Less" in its simplicity and its unrelenting message as well as using skilled child and adult actors in real-life settings. Filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi reminds us up front that we in the West don't understand the plight of the Kurdish refugees, numbering 20 million in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. "Time of Drunken Horses" is both an important lesson as well as a powerful homage to the suffering Kurdish people. To its credit, the film does depict the suffering as sympathy but rather as heroic and noble. When children have to fight for work in the marketplace, usually carrying heavy contraband on their backs, or when they have to trudge through deep snow to return to their village, or when they sing childhood songs about how they are aging so fast, there is a surprising energy and enthusiasm. The film takes its viewpoint from three children - a teenage boy, Ayoub, placed in charge of a disintegrating family, his younger sister, Amaneh, and the crippled and sick brother, Madi. The father has died in a landmine accident and the step-mother is away leaving the children in the hands of an already burdened uncle with eight children of his own. Madi needs an operation to extend his life another 7 or 8 months; otherwise, he will died soon. The love extended to this midget child is remarkable from the brother and sisters (one even accepts marriage in exchange for obtaining the needed operation) to the kindly doctor who comes regularly to give injections. That is the one irony that this film plainly wants to get across. We are blest with modern medicine is at our fingertips and yet we can decide to withhold care if it appears to be futile. How, then, can we understand, in a society in which there is so little, the determination of one boy to extend the live of someone he truly loves when the odds are overwhelmingly against him. The final scene merely strengthens the powerful message of "Time of Drunken Horses" as the boy and his crippled brother valiantly march off in the snow to a future we know will not be pleasant.