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Children of Heaven
Directed by: Majid Majidi
Starring: Amir Farrokh Hashemian
Genre:
Foreign
Run Time: 89
min.
Release Date:
January 1999
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser: Not Available
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Ali, a young Iranian boy
from a poor family, is on his way home after picking up his sister's
shoes from a shop where they were getting repaired, and inadvertantly
ends up losing them. For a family with limited financial resources, this
is a nightmare. Zahra, the sister, is pretty upset about it, but brother
and sister agree not to tell their parents (lest they get a beating from
Father).
Eventually they devise a plan to solve the problem. Zahra will wear her
brother's sneakers to her classes in the morning, and then run to meet
Ali, who will wear them to his afternoon studies at school.
But after getting in trouble several times for being late to class, Ali
realizes this isn't going to work. So he finds out about a running
competition involving boys his age, and third place is a pair of new
shoes!
The acting of the two main children was impressive. I found them
endearing and easily watchable. And the filming is topnotch, too. The
camera angles, the use of light and dark, the underwater guppies, etc.
were all handled as if by a professional Hollywood studio (not a
low-budget Iranian film).
It was also nice to be immersed in Iranian culture. The differences
between American and Iranian schools, American and Iranian marketplaces,
and American and Iranian architecture was startling.
Where this movie was seriously lacking was in the script.
And mainly in its ending. There are no resolutions, even though I felt
there surely would've been. Ali doesn't win 3rd place in the running
competition, but he does win. But there's no mention of what he might
have done with those winnings.
And there's a scene toward the end of the film where it appears Zahra's
father may have bought her some shoes (perhaps the very ones Ali lost),
but nothing about this is brought to fruition.
Perhaps it's a nihilistic interpretation of the way Iranian culture is.
I'm not sure. But the film seemed to end abruptly with no apparent
solutions to Ali and Zahra's problems.
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Image from Children of
Heaven
DVD cost: $11.99
Purchase:
BestPrices.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
In the English DVD version
of the film, the epilogue is not translated. The epilogue explains that
Ali eventually achieves the larger-scale success of having a racing
career.
Movie Quote: "I
have no shoes. How am I supposed to go to school with no shoes?"
Other Actors/Actresses
from Children of Heaven
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