A touching movie about belief in God and God's love

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2007)

"Children of Heaven" is a very heartwarming movie. It is a Middle Eastern film from Iran and therefore is subtitled and very different from American movies. It does move rather slow and has many scenes with little or no talking. I believe this is good because it gives you time to think about and recognize what is going on in the movie without relying on the characters to tell you. Many things in the movie are implied rather than stated outright. Very few, if any, of the actors were professionals, however the cast is brilliant. The main character, the young boy Ali, is especially convincing. The movie has heavy Islamic themes which you should be able to easily pick out if you have knowledge of the religion. I believe the overall theme of the movie would be that God will always take care of you, even if he does it in a way you did not expect.
Ali is a young boy who accidentally lost his younger sister, Zahra's, shoes. Their family cannot afford to buy a new pair, so Ali and Zahra race back and forth from school to share one pair of sneakers. At the end of the movie, Ali participates in a race to win a pair of sneakers for his sister. He must come in third place to win the shoes, but through his determination he accidentally comes in first. He is very disappointed and extremely exhausted after the race. He goes home to Zahra knowing he has let her down. The movie then cuts to a scene of his father at the market and shows new shoes for Ali and Zahra on the back of his bike. Then it comes back to Ali and we watch as he soothes his tired, blistered feet in a pool of water.
Ali and Zahra worked very hard to share one pair of sneakers and to keep their parents from worrying about Zahra's lost shoes. Although it was hard, they worked together every day. Ali was very excited when the prospect of new sneakers came up. He knew he could win them and tried his hardest. But in the end, he did not get what he wanted. He felt like a failure and knew his sister was disappointed. However, the viewers see that everything is taken care of; both children will get new shoes. This clearly shows the author's belief that God will give his people what they need. He gives Ali a cool, refreshing pool to soak and cleanse his aching feet in. And even though He did not give Ali the shoes from the race, He still provided shoes; a pair for each child. So God provided even more than what was needed. So in the end, God will take care of you so long as you work hard and care about others.