Children of Heaven

I have been wanting to write this post for quite a while now. In fact I wanted to write it as soon as I finished watching this gem of a movie by Iranian director Majid Majidi. My friend at work was the first one to recommend ‘Children of Heaven’ to me. Sadly he only remembered that it was an Iranian movie and the story. He promised to find out the name of the movie from his wife, but forgot about it. I chanced upon the DVD in the library and without knowing that it was the same movie my friend had talked about, I went ahead and watched it. This movie is a proof to my theory that to make a good movie, you do not need a complicated script all the time. A simple story executed with a difference or a different story executed simply usually results in a good movie.

‘Children of Heaven’ is one of those rare movies where the characters are very real and the situations are very relatable. It is also one of the few movies where children behave like normal children and their issues are dealt with love and seriousness.

The story is unbelievably simple. The movie starts with a shot of young Ali (about 6-7 years old) getting his younger sister Zahra’s shoes repaired with the shoemaker. On his way back, he leaves them outside the grocers while he picks up vegetables for his home. Unfortunately a blind salesman who collects used things picks them up and Ali goes home without the shoes. Ali tells Zahra about the shoes and tells her not to tell their parents since they both know that their father does not have the money to replace the shoes.

Ali asks Zahra to wear his shoes to her school in the morning and then hand them to Ali who would wear them for his afternoon classes. This difficult arrangement gives rise to some interesting adventures. Ali hears about an interschool race in school where the 3rd prize is a pair of sneakers. Ali decides to participate in the race, win the 3rd place and gift the sneakers to Zahra. He is by now very good at running, thanks to his daily runs to school to be on time and so begs his way into the race, even though the selection of boys from the school for the race is already over. What happens in the race? Does Ali get the sneakers? These questions are answered at the end of the movie.

Iranian movies are held in high esteem in movie circles, for their visual appeal, simple storylines and artistic approach. My first taste of Iranian new wave movies started with ‘Baran’, which also happens to be by the same director. I picked up the movie without knowing anything about it except what the cover of the DVD told me. I wouldn’t say I was blown away by the movie, but it was a movie with very little dialogues and a very pretty heroine who used her eyes to convey all the emotions. ‘Children of Heaven’ is the best of all the Iranian movies I have seen (only 4 )

The kids are extremely cute and their eyes convey everything. When Ali and his father go to the city looking for work, Tehran looked really beautiful with skyscrapers and beautiful buildings. The movie moves at a leisurely pace and it is a welcome break from movies and media where there is a lot of negativity.

This movie was nominated for the Academy awards in the best foreign film category in 1997 but unfortunately lost to a worthy opponent - Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni. For those interested in world cinema, Children of heaven is a must watch.