The Heaven in Children. Review on Children of Heaven -Hollywood Movie

The Consulate General of Islamic Republic of Iran, Hyderabad and the Hyderabad Film Club have organized ‘Iranian Film Festival’ from 23rd to 27th of November, 2005 at Indira Priyadarshani Auditorium, Public Gardens, Hyderabad. The first film screened at the festival was Majid Majidi’s ‘Children of Heaven’.

Had I ever to tell this children’s story…

They were pink shoes and the cobbler was mending them. A few minutes later, Ali took his sister’s repaired shoes and on the way, lost them. Back home, his sister, Zohreh, gets worried on how to go to school the next day, without her shoes. Anyhow, both of them decide to handle the problem without telling their parents. They decide to share Ali’s sneakers. Thus begins the journey of their small secret.

According to their school-timings, Zohreh’s school ends when Ali’s begins. So, after her classes, Zohreh runs as fast as she could to the place where Ali is waiting for her. From there it is Ali’s turn to run. This running gets difficult day-by-day, as Ali always ends up late to his classes. But Ali insists that their parents should not know the truth, because their father has no money for a new pair of shoes. So the brother and sister continue their struggling secret…..

….until one day, when Ali’s school notice board displayed the prizes for a long-run race. The first prize was some medal and a trophy. The second prize was something similar. The third prize was ‘a pair of sneakers’. Ali decides to participate in the race and decides that he should come, not first or second, but third, so that he can win the sneakers and give them to his sister. But on the day of the race, with an unfortunate turn of events, he ends up coming ‘first’. When the photographer asks him to pose for a photograph, his face shows how tired he is; in fact, how depressed he is! After so much effort (it was a very long run), he could not get the shoes for his sister. Back home, he finds that, after the run, his own sneakers are completely torn. And, that’s the end of the secret.

How Majid Majidi has already told it…

The writer-director Majid Majidi knew that children think and understand in a simple way. So he wove a screenplay that would make children comfortably sail along the flow of the film. His treatment was down-to-earth and identifiable to all the children and all those adults who remember their childhood. In some scenes, like when one of the shoes slips from Zohreh’s foot and falls into the flowing gutter and the consequent chase by Zohreh, Ali’s emotions during the run-race, the trust and love between Ali and Zohreh, etc were handled with the heart of a child. The children who enacted the roles were simply lovable; they believably represented the purity children have.

The flute played in the background score was brilliant. The cinematography and editing were just perfect.

The credits on paper….

Film: Bacheha-ye Aseman (English title: Children of Heaven)

Actors: Mohammad-Amir Najafi, Mir-Farokh Hashemain, Bahareh Seddighi

Children of Heaven…

There is small pond in Ali’s house. And in that pond, lived the Children of Heaven --- orange-tinged fish finned across the ripples to reach the food-flakes which Ali threw for them. On that day, having got tired after the marathon, Ali relaxes his legs in the water of the pond. The Angels, or Children of Heaven, fin across the water to reach Ali’s tired feet and gently kiss them --- they are the blessings from Heaven.

The children’s father, out of love for his kids, gets for each of them a pair of shoes --- sneakers of Ali and pink shoes for Zohreh.