The Children of Heaven

CHILDREN of HEAVEN
Directed by Majid Majidi

Years before when I had first read Pather Panchali what had appealed to me was a wonderful chemistry between the two siblings-Apu and Durga. Theirs was a world quite different to the one I was living. They stayed in a dull, sleeping village viz. Nischindipur, (like several others in West Bengal) and not to forget the harsh realities of their impoverished household, a constantly lonely and embittered mother struggling to save her children from the wicked clutches of poverty. Pather Panchali was all these. But inspite of that Durga and Apu’s world in an apparently dull village made me envious. I often longed for the fun and enjoyment these two little children managed to have inspite of the impending gloom their household was facing. It was a remarkable relationship between the two, a pair of doe-eyes simple village children-a doting sister and a loyal brother. Till then, I could never imagine that simple things like sitting quietly under a tree, running after a candy man who passes by ringing bells, viewing pictures in a bioscope shown by a travelling vendor, travelling through the lust green fields to have a fleeting glance of the whistling train, all these and more can be so joyful. The young children amused themselves with such simple joys from their surroundings. The immense simplicity of their hearts and the endearing bondage of love that they shared was enough to send the drudgery of their impoverished struggling life to a back-seat.
Years later, when I watched “Children of Heaven”, I was reminded instantly of Pather Panchali and definitely about Apu and Durga.
Indeed Ali and Zahra and the immense bondage of affection, these two kids of the impoverished Mandegar family share with each other bring forth the message of real happiness in life lies in the humane virtues of love and honesty.
Ali loses the only pair of shoes Zahra could wear at school. The children are aware of the fact that their father will be unable to buy another pair. Hence they devise a plot. Zahra would wear Ali’s sneakers to school and Ali’s school being in the afternoon, would retrieve the pair of Zahra’s return and wear the same to school. The film beautifully captures this race for time-management and how these two children cope up. Ali is often late at school and Zahra is often shy and conscious on these large, ill-fitting dirty pair of sneakers. However, their indomitable spirit never makes them disappointed for a long time. They constantly find out ways to come over the difficulties if any. They wash their shoes and find simple pleasures in doing such activities. Their ploy is completely hidden from their parents. There are remarkable ways in the movie, where they concoct the entire plan in the presence of their presence, by exchanging notes on their note-book. However Ali never uses his poverty to wage sympathy. When reprimanded for being late, he never cites his saga of lost shoes and delay due to shoe-swap. The Children of Heaven focuses on the relationship between the two children, their absolute determination to help one another, and their unquestioning assumption that whatever they do they must do it honestly and in a manner that is fair to others. At one point, for example, when they actually locate the missing shoes, they remain silent when they see that the girl now wearing them is the daughter of a blind street peddler.
The doting brother does not hesitate to give his prized gift from his teacher to make his sister happy. Zahra also at the same time is constantly loyal to her brother and never reveals the loss of shoes to her parents. Their simple joys in life come from their share of deep love and affection for each other.
The love leads to commit Ali to win a race to secure the 3rd position in an inter-country school race since the 3rd and not the 1st or 2nd, guarantees a pair of shoes as gift. Evidently Ali is disappointed when he discovers that he has come first.
It seems that their happiness depends more on the ushering of hopes each one has culminated for the other. The movie is resplendent with images of the warmth and candor they have for one other.
In spite of that, these children are very much children and Majidi never wanted to make them behave like adults. Hence Zahra suffers from pangs of jealousy seeing the other girl wearing her shoes and is also thankful to her, for retrieving her pen she had lost. These are the dilemmas we as children also face. However, with lesser baggage, children make decisions much easily. Hence Zahra has no problem to befriend this smaller girl once she finds out about her blind peddler father and let relinquish her bitterness. Indeed children are closer to “heaven”.
The final scene of the movie is beautiful and once again, I am reminded of one of the most poignant and memorable scenes of Pather Panchali which also involves water-Apu throwing away Durga’s stolen beads into the pond.
Majidi’s imagery here is even stronger and more beatific. In the film's final scene, Ali removes his sneakers and puts his blistered feet into a pond in which goldfish are swimming. The fish, a clear symbol of hope, nibble on his toes. Ali doesn't know what the film viewer has just seen: the father parking his bicycle, which has in the basket two new pairs of sneakers, shoes he was able to buy because he has a new job as a gardener.
Iranian movies seem to be resplendent with colors. The Persian carpets, the glazed pieces of baked bricks in colors of green, red, turquoise arranged in patterns giving forms to beautiful tile-works, the small tanks in the house compounds with schools of gold-fishes dancing and waving through form the usual imageries of the Iranian movies. They also make these movies a spectacular feast, apart from creating through images a cultural tapestry of Iran to the rest of the world. It is therefore quite understandable why most of the time, turquoise is a predominant color through these images symbolic of the national gemstone of Iran, the “turquoise”
Majidi’s view of Iran is also a state where citizens imbibe the basic virtues of humanity and love. And that is represented through Ali, Zahra and their family. The Children of Heaven offers a rare look at Islamic culture, which is often seriously misrepresented in the West. We see into Muslim schools, shops, a family's home, a mosque, and a wealthy neighborhood of Tehran. We sense a culture that stresses honesty, loyalty, responsibility, respect, fairness and trust in God.