Alicia I love this movie so much

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

manzur_physio Matir Moyna, known in English as The Clay Bird is a Bengali film directed by Tareque Masud, a film director of Bangladesh. The film was released in 2002. This the first movie from Bangladesh nominated for Oscars. The film is set in the late-'60s, prior to Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan; the film deals with a young boy named Anu, in a Bangladeshi small-town, with his strict and deeply religious father, mother and little sister.The story starts with a boy Anu whose father fears his boy's corruption by the outside world sends his son to study in to a strict Islamic school called Madrassa.This film reveals many allegations and documented cases of physical abuse in madrassas, such as corporal punishment, beatings and other such practices ( for example writing Arabic with left hand was a great sin, having TV which considered as a box of a Satan in home etc).

dwpollar 1st watched 4/14/2009 – 5 out of 10 (Dir-Tareque Masud): Dreary yet valiant effort at portraying Pakastani Muslim life thru the eyes of a village in the late 60's during a time right before the country gained it's independence. The story is really more about the village and a specific family then it is about the politically-charged culture of the time but it does eventually affect the village. The family's devout Muslim father sends his son to an Islam school at the beginning of the movie to keep him away from Hindu influences from other villagers. The boy's school life is really the main storyline thru most of the movie as he begins a friendship with another boy who has his own difficulties and he learns the Muslim ways. He returns home occasionally to see the family crumbling under the strict father's rules. The father is a holistic medicine man who refuses certain medications and basically causes his daughter to die and his wife separate emotionally from him. This attitude never does him much good, but he never learns from it. The movie is slow moving but interesting mainly because it's neat to learn about other cultures. The village converse about the goings-ons in the bigger cities but that's really all we see about the political issues.(I guess the movie makers didn't want to show the violence but it might have helped move the story along better.) The movie overall is just not quite good enough for me to recommend due to the slow moving aspect and the fact that they left some characters lost without telling us what happened to them. It is nice though hearing from a country that we don't hear from often in the movies.

adnan tanvir When I began to watch this film for the first time, I knew that it was a good film and was in the limelight that time. At first I was little bit bored because the film was going little slow. But as the film continued, my boredom turned into excitement and by the time the film finished, I was fully contented. Casting, acting , plot everything was great and perfect. It may be called an art film but as entertaining as well. Those who are familiar with Bangladeshi culture would realize the demand of such kind of a film. It tells the story of superstitious and conservative culture of the then East Pakistan. Some parts of the culture are alive in the villages till now. So this film has a great social significance. Its director Tareque Masud said that he made this film based on his childhood memories. That's one of the main reason of its success. Its based on reality. It represents our traditional cultural structure. Looking forward to watch more great films like this.

lckt13 I don't know why the person from Newcastle UK had a problem in following this wonderful storyline and characters of which there were but a few. Perhaps it was too engaging and not of the Monty Python genre!I found the film beautifully directed, filmed, and acted. the history of this forsaken country is well known with tribal and governmental conflicts over many centuries. the depiction of the religious conflicts and family matters was masterfully rendered.the zealotry of the father eventually destroyed everything worthwhile in his life - daughter, son, wife and brother. one could see the demise progress throughout the film. a lesson worth remembering which i believe was the focus and intent of the makers of the film.