Director, Screenplay: Majid Majidi
Festivals: Montreal (Best Picture), Los Angeles (nominated for Grand Jury Prize), Newport (Best Foreign Film), Singapore (Best Asian Feature Film)
Things get lost with me. Fancy erasers, wallets, keyrings, crayons, pens, small gifts, essays, notes, things. I usually despair over them for a couple of days, then I would forget about them (I get scolded) or get them replaced (my parents hate to see me sulk). Children of Heaven is a film you kids today should see, you materialistic little bastards! Ali lost his sister's shoes on his way home from the shoe repair. And no, they weren't Royal Elastics® nor Doc Martens™, but a very battered pair of pink girl's shoes that my local flea market wouldn't even dare to sell. Coming from a very poor hard-working family, Ali and Zahra have to refrain from telling their father (played by Majidi) about the loss, let alone nag for a new pair, for the fear of getting beaten up and their understanding of the house economy. To add a dimension to the difficulty, their mother is ill and the rent is due. Therefore, Ali has to share his sneakers with his sister, she wears them to school in the morning and Ali waits for his turn to wear them to school in the afternoon.
Where do lost things go? They have to wind up somewhere or get converted into energy. Zahra's shoes aren't just lost, they end up on the feet of another poor schoolgirl. Finding this out, Ali and Zahra don't have the heart to ask for them back. And so the quest begins to acquire new shoes for Zahra. Their father's determination to support his family leads him to seek out gardening work on the rich side of town. The gap between the rich and poor is sad to see (although it should be familiar to me, being born in Indonesia), yet Ali and his father take it as a fact of life in their innocence. The rich man's lawn looks like the garden of Eden to them. A hope of a better life is constantly present in the picture and its protagonists. This film, like The White Balloon, works on innocence and simplicity, making it a touching, moving experience. There are no jump-cuts or complicated camerawork, no flashy computer animations. Being children of heaven, they don't fight John Woo style or speak in bullets. It is relieving and inspiring to find this film amongst the banality of American money-spinners like (see: Jawbreaker review). This a sublime and gentle film that talks about compassion, determination and family values without the "Ooh, I love you, Dad! I love you, Mom! Let's have steak, mashed potatoes and peas dinner on our Ikea table" formula. A few references from The White Balloon are perhaps the goldfish in the pond, the shoe that falls in the gutter, and the naiveté of children but who cares about references when it is such a trifle; goldfish are nice, and shoes and other things fall in the gutter, while children are … commodities. No, not in this film, methinks. Children are integral, and as the schoolgirls chant, "we are the flowers of this country." Here, winning a school race is important, not for popularity's sake, but because life necessitates it. Why? You must find that out for yourself.
So kids, stop bothering your parents for those very nice pair of blue suede Royals®, they're cool, but they're expensive, they're not worth it, especially if you have foot odor problems, and hey, where did I put that Sheaffer® pen I got from my high school best buddy? Uh-oh, another one getting lost in the cosmos.
natalia laban
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return to Sydney Film Festival 1999 index
goto review of the German film Run Lola Run, also showing at SFF99.
goto review of the Mexican film The Limits of Time, also showing at SFF99.
goto review of The Cassavetes Retrospective, Shadows, also showing at SFF99.