Children of Heaven

Children of Heaven is a wonderful Iranian movie. The story revolves around Ali who is in 3rd grade and his sister Zahra who is in first grade. Ali loses Zahra's sneakers by accident and pleads with her not to tell their father who is poor and will beat both of them when he hears of it. Instead they begin to time-share the shoes that Ali wears. It is quite an effort and its their little secret. Until one day Ali gets a chance to run a long distance race. The 3rd prize is what he is aiming for. It is a pair or sneakers.

I have no words to describe how adorable the two kids are. The innocence they radiate and the maturity with which they potray their characters. These kids use their eyes and face to say so much. Everything that words cannot say. The desire on Zahras face as she scans every other girl's shoes in school or when Ali's eyes well up with tears and he says "please don't tell mummy, I promise ill find you your shoes." my heart would go out to them.

The plot is so wonderfully innocent and simple. A far cry from the snazzy movies that one ends up watching these days. A child's world is so big and so beautiful. There is room for angels and pixies and all the wonderful things that an adult is incapable of even dreaming.

It is indeed our grown up worlds, with all our petty worries and politics, that is too small for giving sharing and living in peace. It may be that I am partial to children's movies and movies about children. So what? I may be a 26 year old child myself who loves chocolates and icecreams and surprises and Harry Potter. But I take that over being a prim and proper adult any day. The world is more colourful through the eyes of a child. And Heaven is a world created by children.