Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven, 1997)

Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven, 1997) is an Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi. It is a beautiful story of a boy named Ali, his ypunger sister Zahra, and their parents.

In the very beginning of the story, Ali loses his sister's pair of shoes while shopping for groceries. He tells his sister, but they keep the loss a secret from their parents in fear of being punished by their father, knowing he does not have enough money to buy another pair.

Throughout the movie, Ali and his sister Zahra share Ali's pair of sneakers. Zahra uses them during the day when she goes to school, then races to meet Ali in an alleyway to give them back to him so that he can use them to go to school as well. This creates a daily routine for the siblings. Everyday, Zahra goes to school embarassed to have to wear her brother's sneakers, and, in the afternoons, Ali is late going to class.

Towards the end of the movie, Ali enters a race for which the third prize is a new pair of shoes. However, much to his dismay, but to the joy of his peers, teachers, and parents, Ali comes in first place and wins a different prize. At the conclusion of the movie, though, it is revealed that their father actually buys Zahra a new pair of shoes and Ali a new pair of sneakers

One theme throughout the movie was the innocence of kids - specifically Ali and Zahra. It was an innocent mistake for Ali to lose his sister's shoes, but he was burdened with the guilt for the rest of the story. They went through much trouble, embarassment, and inconvenience having to deal with the loss of the shoes, thinking it was such a big deal. One scene which depicted their innocence was when they were cleaning Ali's sneakers in the pond. They were blowing bubbles and having fun with each other, and I thought that this part just showed how much joy was in their lives despite their standard of living.

To me, I found every detail of each setting of each scene to be interesting. It just takes place in a completely different environment than I am used to seeing in movies. The story took place in locations that I had never before been exposed to or seen. Even from the very beginning, I found the set up of the grocery shop to be very interesting. I also found it neat how they did their laundry outside right in the pond. I also noticed how closely the houses were put together and how there were very narrow alley ways with the drain and gutter running through right down the middle. Also in the movie, for some variety of setting, a couple scenes actually took place in a richer neighborhood where the houses and properties were much larger and protected by gates.

Also, the main characters in the movie, Ali and Zahra, were young children. Obviously, they had to be played by young child actors and despite not much experience, I thought they both did an excellent job playing their parts. Not once throughout the course of the film was I not convinced of their roles. It was as if the actors were actually their characters in real life.

Children of Heaven is a simple story which is very heartwarming and amusing. It is a movie that will make you smile and give you good feelings inside.