Children of Heaven - Directed by Majid Majidi, 1997

Ali and Zahra are siblings who live in an unfortunate surrounding. Their financial status is vastly poor. Little sister Zahra has a pair of pink shoes that need fixing. Ali graciously takes them to be repaired. At the grocery store, Ali puts down the repaired shoes, subsequently losing them, from a man who I might have put them in a bag by accident. For fear of telling his parents, on account of their financial status, Ali begs Zahra not to break the news to them as well. Zahra understands and the two deal to share Ali’s converse sneakers. Zahra wears them in the morning and Ali at noon. This however causes obvious discomfort and Ali to be late excessively. Soon the principal prohibits him from coming back to school without a parent. Ali’s teacher convinces him to give Ali another chance. Shortly after, Zahra discovers her pink shoes on another girl’s feet and follows her home. She and Ali go to the girl’s house one evening and finds out that her father is blind, thus the two leave. Zahra later hears the girl with her shoes, threw them out. Desperate for money Ali and his father take a ride to the wealthy parts of town to do guarding. The two eventually find their way to a mansion, where a boy and his grandfather live. After a hard days work, The grandfather is extremerly generous to Ali’s father. Ali gets a chance to win back a pair of shoes in a foot race if he won 3rd place. He won 1st and unfortunately did not get the shoes.

Major Theme
This film depicts misfortune but with it family and moral fiber. It is a tale of secrets and sadness that is triggered by compassion. It teaches the audience that in life, one can be penniless or somehow underprivileged but if, by some chance we can overlook the tragedies in our lives, we would see that love is all around, and it can come from a family member, teacher, or whorever. Compassion is what counts.

Reaction
I didn’t know how to feel about this movie until I sat back a while. At first I felt hurt by how in ruin Ali and Zahra’s lifestyle were and how tragic their family was. But it made me realize how close they really were to each other and how much love and strength there was in such a tragic place. It taught me to not dwell on my own faults and trouble and focus on the people in my life who try their best just to make me smile.