Children of Heaven (1997)

Lack of good storyline.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Very brilliant film, with (not only) children acting very naturally. A simple story of brother and sister hurrying up to lend each other the only pair of shoes they have, after the brother lost them. It's also a story of material poverty of the children, but richness in feelings and beauty between a brother and a sister. It reminded me of some neorealism italian cinema movement. It's a wonderful example of cinema based on feelings and acting rather than budget.

This was a perfect 10 but I was just a bit disappointed with the ending of the movie.

When reading up about the Iran New Wave (INW) one of the first titles I found out about was Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven. Intrigued by the details,I was disappointed in being unable to track a good print of the movie down. Checking on what films were about to go from Netflix UK,I was thrilled to find an INW film,that I hoped would be heavenly viewing.The plot:Going to get shopping for his family,Ali puts the new shoes his dad ordered for his sister Zahra on the side for a minute.Coming back with a shopping bag,Ali finds that the shoes have been taken. Thinking of the money issues facing the family,Ali tries to keep things hidden. Secretly talking to Zahra,the siblings make a deal of each taking it in turns to wear Ali's old sneakers between classes. Believing that this is the new path they must walk,Ali is thrilled to learn of a contest that might let him make things up to Zahra.View on the film:Keeping the camera at Ali and Zahra's level,writer/director Majid Majidi & cinematographer Parviz Malekzaade masterfully cut rustic INW Neo-Realism with the dramatic heft of the Sports Drama. Keeping costs as low as possible by shooting on location, Majidi gives the side streets of Tehran an earthy atmosphere brushed with lingering shots breathing in the daily life of the family and small tracking shots getting beneath the busy streets of the town. Stepping into the "sports movie" Majidi balances the earthy setting with elegant slow motion that brings out the loud gasps from Ali in his desire to make up for his mistake.Lacing a bond between brother and sister,the screenplay by Majidi gives an extraordinary richness in the daily lives of the family,as Majidi brings to light the smallest moments between the family,from Zahra and Ali writing less than secret notes to each other,to Ali having to run out in the rain to put his torn sneakers in the family shoe area. Joining Ali in putting running shoes on, Majidi wonderfully skips over Sport movie clichés by keeping Ali's contest firmly linked to the family troubles that give the film a touchingly poetic final note. Criss-crossing school runs under the noses of their mum and dad, Amir Farrokh Hashemian and Bahare Seddiqi give magnificent performances as Ali and Zahra,thanks to Seddiqi giving Zahra a taut sharpness, whilst Seddiqi gives Ali a nose to the grindstone determination to find some heavenly footwear.

I have been on a "family movie" kick recently. An odd genre to delve into. And no, I am not a nostalgia addled twentysomething revisiting Disney. I'm talking anything that moves and talks and is inoffensive enough so that parents can let a screen babysit their munchkins for 2 hoursish. This genus of film shelters the lazy and has historically provided us with the most notorious specimens of hackery. Beyond the trash however, there exists children's movie that inspire wonder. It is these films, where creators did not compromise on their art, that feel as if they are abandoning me. I am inured, always on guard. Is simple innocuous sentimentality so unstomachable even when not squishy? I blame society. Children of Heaven is my only recent escape from this cultural conditioning.Let's first address the most obvious possibility why Children of Heaven is an exception. Writer/Director Majid Majidi is from Iran and this is a Persian language film. Now any film veteran knows that flowery words can work beautifully as subtitles and be completely hollow when audible. This is a wrench in the works when reviewing foreign language films. So unless I learn Persian, I cannot say exactly how resilient I am to the syrup. I'll get right on that. So I am sure the unfamiliar tongue does lower my guard, but I am convinced that is not the deciding factor. The source of conflict is sublime. Children of Heaven is the story of how young boy Ali survives day to day life after misplacing his sister Zahra's shoes. There is a duality to this problem's scale. Even the smallest mishaps can be tragedies for children. Lost shoes seem like one such problem, yet Ali's family is poor. With the rent past due, Ali's father overworked, and his mother injured, even the smallest mishap can push a vulnerable family over the brink. With this and their father's potential ire in mind, the siblings choose to handle this problem on their own.This seems a reasonable undertaking for a pair of elementary schoolers, but we forget how integral shoes are in everyday life. They are practical, but also convey style and status. So when Ali and Zahra share a pair of worn out tennies this arrangement colors their day to day life. Still, the loss is not a McGuffin driving a plot, but a perspective. Ali and Zahra live where school is run in shifts to maximize the use of the facilities. Zahra takes the shoes in the morning, dashes to a meeting place, Ali trades her sandals hopefully in time to get to school without being tardy. A reasonable arraignment, but imagine trying to get your sister to ware your beat up oversized shoes or wearing ugly ill-fitting boats to school. So no, plot lovers, this is not a story for you. Just life in the face of the tiny obstacles the size of the world. The dilemmas never seems forced our overly dramatized. The director knows the peril these narratives pose to our attention spans. The movie is not even 90 minutes long. Identical to the similar Bicycle Thieves. There is a climax to Children of Heaven, but it does not resolve the problem of the shoes. There are some hints, but Children does not have a slick Hollywood ending. This has and will continue to perturb some viewers, but I argue they missed the point. Majidi is a measured storyteller. Like the family, authenticity hangs on a delicate precipice. Heartwarming, but another dash of cuteness could send the film tumbling into an abyss that has claimed so many others. Children of Heaven finds the balance and a place in any beating heart.