Set in Majidi’s native Tehran, The Children of
Heaven is the story of a brother and sister, Ali (played by Amir Farrokh Hashemian) and Zahra (Bahareh
Seddiqui. The film opens with Ali sitting by an old shoemaker getting her
sister’s tiny pair of worn shoes repaired. He then carries the shoes to a fruit
market ,leaving them outside the door with empty cartons. He does so because it’s
a small shop and he must pick the cheap pieces through the costly ones and that
he can’t do while holding the bag containing the shoes. Meanwhile a man comes
on a cart and asks the vendor if he can take away the discarded cartons. The
vendor nods and the man picks up everything outside the shop, including the bag
containing Zahra’s shoes. The family, whose poverty makes their children to
bear certain responsibilities, is behind rent for their one room apartment.
Father works in an office with little income to buy his daughter a new pair of
shoes. Since those were the only shoes which the girl wore at school, problem
is so big for the children of such tender age, especially when they don’t want
to increase the hardships of their parents. Ali and Zahra have to deal with the
problem by thinking of some strategy and so the adventure begins.
As Ali and Zahra attend schools at different
timings, they solve the problem by sharing the equally worn shoes Ali has. Zahra's
shame at having to wear shoes that don't fit, and Ali's guilt for losing the
shoes, which has placed his sister, whom he adores, in a situation that makes
their poverty even harder for her to bear. When an athletic contest is
announced at school in which Ali can win a pair of sneakers, he begs for entry;
he will give the sneakers to Zahra. In their performances, the children leave
no doubt about a child's capacity for suffering, and their resilience in the
face of so many substantial obstacles. In their love for each other, and in
their love of family-it is an act of love when the children decide not to
burden their parents-Ali and Zahra illustrate the ideal of sibling
relationships, but also the emotional depth and the accompanying isolation of
childhood that can easily lead to great suffering. The film shows poverty and its hazards, helplessness, and a struggle to meet both end meet, but
it never loses the hope for possibility. It conveys the message of finding a
way through will and patience and the power of holding on.
Majid Majidi simply tells a story in which the
main characters happen to be children. In this way, he has made a truly
revolutionary film-not one that trumpets its uniqueness, but a film that
quietly and lyrically brings you to so many revelations about the human
condition which simply can't be expressed in prose. No, one would have to write
poetry in order to critique such a film.
God blessed us with eyes so we can see because
there are few things in this world which cannot be put in words no matter how
good you are at telling. Children of Heaven is one of those experiences which
simply can’t be explained in words. You have to watch to fall in love for this
great work by director and young actors.
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