Children Of Heaven

Children of Heaven: An Adventure into Adulthood

by

Eric Laff

Background of the Film: Links to Society

Poverty is a serious issue in Iran even now. It's not surprising that Majid Majidi, the director of the film, opens with a long sequence of a pair of shoes being repaired. The film is set in the rundown southern section of Tehran, the capital city of Iran. The film focuses on a poor family and the struggle of a brother and sister to replace the newly repaired shoes that had been lost at the beginning of the film. The shoes are representation of class in Iran, like a nice watch or expensive car. Throughout the film this theme of class is continually revisited. Particularly when Majidi depicts Ali, the main character, at home with his poor family and disabled mother. Towards the middle of the film Ali and his father travel to a wealthy neighborhood in Tehran for work. The contrast of the two worlds is unavoidably noticeable especially with the addition of Majidi’s brilliant cinematographic skills providing excellent transitions between both worlds.

The film uses children in order to tell the story. Although this is a great method for telling a story it is also a form of social commentary and storytelling in Iranian cinema. Islamic law dictates that unmarried men and women cannot touch, and the household cannot be on screen. Directors  like Kiarostami and Majidi go around this issue by using children in their films in order tell the story and convey their themes. Without a doubt there is an issue of censorship in Iran, children are a way to go around this and still be able to tell a story.

Summary of the Film and Plot

The film begins with the repairing Ali’s sister’s shoes. Ali is out running errands for his family and leaves them outside the shop. Only to have them accidentally taken by a homeless man man and carted away. One Ali  realizes this he goes home but does not tell his parents as he fears he will be punished for his misstep. Ali and his sister Zahra must keep this from their parents and teachers by exchanging shoes in the middle of the day before their gym class (or the Iranian equivalent anyways). In order to keep his sister happy, who adores Ali, he gives her a golden pen that his teacher rewarded him with for being a good student. Towards the middle of the film Ali and his father travel to a wealthy neighborhood in Tehran and provide gardening service to wealthy family and receive payment as a result. After which time Ali learns of a race that provides the second prize winner with a new pair of sneakers. Ali then decides to enter and win the sneakers to trade them for a pair that match his sisters. After entering the race and coming in first place Ali weeps as he lost the opportunity to acquire a new pair of shoes for his sister. But by that point his father had already bought a new pair of shoes for Zahra with the money he was paid for the gardening work done earlier in the film. The film ends with Ali placing his feet in the pool and the fishes swimming towards his feet.
Themes Within:Neorealism and Growing Up

It’s hard to recall the years before growing up. But those years are filled with wonder and beauty. The world is much smaller and often small problems seem like the end of the world. Like losing a pair of shoes, or winning a race and not winning a pair of shoes for your sister but instead given a better prize with greater opportunity attached.

This is not lost in Majid Majidi's film Children of Heaven. The film, although told through the eyes of two poor children, using a neo-realist style still manages to provide a peek into some social themes as well as life in a poor family. Throughout the film Majidi often points the viewer to shoes. Shoes hold a cultural significance within Iranian society. That being a sign of class and wealth.
Majidi's ability to show the childlike wonder of the world even in spite of the real world problems often glossed over throughout the film is intriguing. The final scenes with the Ali resting his feet in the fountain provide said childlike wonder. In pain from running in old torn up sneakers he rest his feet in the pool of water. At that point the fish living in the pool swim to his his feet and in a comforting manner, almost as if they are being personified with personality. The coming of age aspect is especially enjoyable. When Ali’s father explains to him “he is now nine years old” and needs to begin to act like an adult.

His adventure into adulthood is frequently interrupted with scenes of child like amusement. One scene him and his sister wash his dirty shoes and lay with bubbles. This scene also depicts the innocence of children. A theme often used in Iranian films with children. While the bubbles take on a mystical element much like the shoes later in the film.

The personification of creatures and things within in the film is especially pleasing, One scene in particular in which Zahra losses one of her shoes in a gutter and the shoes takes on a mystical property or living properties. Making Zahra chase it until it becomes stuck under a small bridge across the gutter. Majidi plays with the audience through the film. In one case he transitions the film from a surreal dreamlike sequence back to the “real world”.

While gardening in one of the houses in the wealthy neighborhood in Tehran the film enters a dreamlike sequence were Ali plays with the young boy living at the house while his father works. Upon leaving the gates of the house and getting on his bike with Ali, Amir talks of all the nice things he will do with his newly acquired money. The happiness and excitement come to an end when they speed down a hill and lose the ability to break on their old bike crashing into a pole. This transition back to poverty and reality makes for a true story telling experience.

Work Cited:

Cardullo, Bert.  In Search of Cinema:  Writings on International Film Art. (Montreal, Ithaca: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), Chpts. 2, 5& 6.

Tapper, Richard, ed. The New Iranian Cinema:  Politics, Representation and Identity (NU: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2004), Chpt. 12.