AllMovie

Director Rafigh Pooya brings a documentary-style realism to this film about political turmoil in his homeland of Azerbaijan, which under the Yalta agreement was split in half between Iran and the Soviets. In Broken Bridges, Peter Reckell plays Jeff, a filmmaker of American and Azerbaijani background who has devoted several years to his pet project, a movie about the tragic death of his mother who was relocated after her homeland was split. Jeff's obsession with his film has strained his marriage almost to the breaking point; when he travels to Azerbaijan for location filming, he meets Jayran (Fatima Ibragimbekov), whom he first casts as his mother, and then finds himself falling for, a turn of events which leads to dire consequences for both his marriage and his personal safety. Pooya's film is one of the few features that has attempted to bring Azerbaijan's sad story to the screen.