Children of Heaven Themes and Thoughts

Rating: 8/10 (16 March 2006)

"There is beauty all around when there's love at home. There is joy in every sound when there's love at homeIn the cottage there is joy, hate and envy ne'er annoy Oh there's One who smiles on high, when there's love at home" (LDS Hymn #294). When a brother and sister do not fight it brings joy to the parents. There is a sweet spirit that can be found with in the walls of that home when there is love. It does not matter if people are rich or poor, black or white, American or Iranian, what matters is the way people treat one another. Among children there is a certain loyalty to one another, especially when these children are siblings. There is nothing a brother wouldn't do to help his sister, keep her happy, and keep her safe. The portrayal of love, loyalty, and caring is wonderfully depicted in Children of Heaven. In a typical family you might expect to observe bickering, back biting, and children acting out against one another. At other times we see the total opposite of this example, a home filled with family members expressing compassion and sympathy in how they feel and act towards one another. In this fairly simple story Ali loses his sister's shoes, tries to find them and fails. He must then go home and tell his sister what has happened, and as children often do they try and hide from their parents the truth that they will be reprimanded for. After Ali tells his sister, Zahra, that he lost her shoes he pleads with her not to tell their father. There are two reasons I see for this fear, it could be because Ali fears he will be in trouble and will be punished for his carelessness, or it could be that he knows that the burden his parents have is already too great and that his family does not have the means to buy new shoes for Zahra. It is out of love rather than fear he does not tell his parents. The relationship that Ali has with his sister is more valuable than all the material things of this world. In effort to console or keep his sister quiet Ali gives her a new pencil and later a golden pen that he is awarded for doing well on a test. Ali shares his shoes with his sister until he can figure out how he will get her shoes back. This makes for some interesting action where they must quickly meet up to exchange shoes so Ali can try to make it to school on time, which he seems unable to do. He is caught a few times by a school administrator, yet even when Ali is in trouble, we see something that seems to be not so common in America anymore. A young child who is courteous and respectful to the elders he comes in contact with, always raising his hand to speak. In doing a little research on this foreign film the use of children actors in Iran is more than just showing innocence and child like love. In Iran there are rules in the film making about using adults. They cannot use a beautiful woman if she is over the age of nine she must cover her hair and womanly curves at all time and if there is a love scene with in the film they cannot touch or even kiss, unless in real life they are husband and wife. When using children they are able to still show these same ideas and are able to use the children in adult situations and give them the characteristics of adults. At the age of nine the father feels his son should be able to help support the family, and that he should be working as well, just like the father had done at his age. There is a tremendous pressure and responsibility put upon a young child, but it is only because of the love of the parents wanting to help prepare them for the rest of their life.