‘Children of Heaven’ is a timeless classic by Majid Majidi. When it comes to portraying a sensitive message, Majidi never fails to infuse life to his emotions. ‘Children of Heaven’ is one such film that embodies the celebration of friendship between two siblings, who bond over the simplest of the simple things.  

The story is set in Iran, and the cinematography reflects the Iranian social culture back in the 1990s. The film begins with the non living protagonist of the film.

When Ali (Mir Farrokh Hashemian), a young kid from Iran, goes to the grocery store to buy some vegetables, he accidentally loses his sister’s shoe – a pink shoe that was mended by a cobbler. The shoe is picked up by a partially blind trash collector during his cleaning chores…and the story unfolds.

Ali is too afraid to tell his father about the incident due to the financial situation in his home. Since it is a requirement of his sister’s school uniform, it is not a good idea to keep the situation a secret from her, he realises. 

Here, the director has done a great job of capturing the anguish of a young child who lost her shoe, especially in the scene where his sister Zarah (Bahare Seddiqi) looks at the pile of shoes outside her house in vain, remembering her lost shoe. 

The brother and sister begin to pass chits right under the nose of their parents, where Zarah asks Ali “How am I supposed to go to school without shoes” and continues to threaten him. But the sibling love triumphs and they begin to handle the situation like adults, coming to terms by Ali sharing his sneakers with Zarah after school. Thanks to the Iranian system of schooling where the boys and girls have different school timings, the terms are easy to follow. 

Zarah laments the fact that while her peers have gorgeous shoes, she has to wear scuffed white sneakers. However, the one thing that motivates and lifts her is the instruction from her physical education teacher to only wear sneakers for better performance. This scene, in effect, shows that Majid Majid is a director who focuses on even the minute emotions with a focus for continuance.

Ever since then the siblings continue to share the sneakers every day. Ali waits for his sister on the way to her school, and tries his hardest to get to school in time. However, due to his recent tardiness, he has come dangerously close to being expelled from school. Fortunately, his good grades save him from such a tragic occurrence. 

However, the pink shoe will appear in the scenario once more when Zarah discovers one of her schoolmates wearing it. She and Ali then trace the girl’s home route where they learn that the girl’s father is blind and would have unintentionally picked up the shoe and given it to her since he would have assumed it was trash. Zarah’s emotions are controlled by the utter simplicity of a child’s love and understanding, and she leaves without raising an issue concerning ownership.  

However, it seems likely that Ali will be able to buy Zarah a new pair of shoes when one day Ali’s father receives some gardening tools. He pedals on his bicycle for miles, with Ali perched atop the handlebars, to Teheran’s affluent district (which appears to be a highly contemporary, lovely city).They are initially turned away from house to mansion while looking for work as gardeners. 

Later, a young child approaches Ali to play with him in his lavish garden. Just so Ali can play with his grandson, the grandfather of the child pays Ali’s father to garden. They have a lot of hope, thanks to this work; but on the way home, their bicycle’s brakes fail, and they suffer a serious accident. This puts a puncture on their big hope of finding more work in their magnificent neighborhood. 

Shortly after, Ali seeks to participate in a cross-country race that is organised by all schools, offering tempting prizes. But after numerous failed attempts to get his sister a shoe and his attempts to get to school on time, he is most drawn to the third reward, which is a pair of sneakers. He starts to plead and sob to be allowed to participate in the race, and when his physical education teacher gives him an opportunity, he never fails. 

Ali is chosen to represent his school with an amazing track record. It was, perhaps, due to the adrenaline rush of desperation or the extensive preparation of rushing to school after exchanging sneakers.

Running to school every week aids him in the race. Unfortunately, there is some thrusting and pushing, which makes the pleasant conclusion mysterious and full of tragedy.

Majid Majidi is the author and director of the 1997 Iranian family drama film Children of Heaven. It earned favourable reviews and was a 1998 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.

In contrast to many other contemporary films, the kids in this one acted like kids. Every scene has a lesson to be learnt. Particularly Ali and Zarah, who are having a little trouble maintaining the secret from their parents as they are aware of their social situation and have developed an adorable sibling language. 

They probably never imagined that at such a young age, a pair of shoes would be the one thing they would start to care about. Ever since Ali lost Zarah’s shoes, they have started to take care of the one pair of shoes they own. In one scene, Zarah and Ali wash the sneakers, and Zarah is watchful at night, keeping an eye on the bad weather; Ali runs down to move the sneakers before the rain soaks their prized possession. 

It is a beautiful movie that teaches the importance of understanding between siblings. 

Currently, ‘Children of Heaven’ is available to stream on Hoopla. You may also download or rent it through Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, and Vudu in addition to purchasing it on these platforms.