Very good and sometimes moving

Rating: 5/10 (2 November 2006)

I've just finished watching "Children of Heaven" for the first time, and in fact I think I can say that this is the first Iranian film that I have ever seen. Coming into the film I had not clue of what it was about other than the fact that it had something to do with shoes.
All around this was a good film, although there are things that keep it from greatness. Every aspect of the film was adequate, but I think that every aspect was missing something. The actors were good but at times, Ali revealed that he was acting to a camera and not living through the character, though I thought that the actress who played Zahra did very good. I felt that the camera work in the film was simply adequate, it didn't move enough and the compositions were not exceptional enough to make me forget about the camera's lack of movement. Of course there were exceptions in the film, moments of magic, but most of the time it lacked that certain spark. Also the plotting of the film, and some of the montage sequences don't work very well. The sequence where Ali goes with his father on a side job is one. I don't mind that this entire sequence, including the bad-luck ending, really had nothing to do with anything else that would seem to happen in the story; but the way it was put together just made it seem uninteresting most of the time, especially when Ali and the other boy are supposed to be 'playing' and having fun with each other, it just seemed so stale. I require more from my films.
A good film with good moments, but not great.
SPOILERS:
Also, I'm not really sure what this film says to me. Ali, the main character lies throughout the film, and he never really suffers because of it-even when he was sent home he never gets in trouble and we never see if he has to bring his father to school with him, so he is never really confronted with having to tell the truth or accept a real punishment or beating for being late all of the time and being sent home. He is afraid to tell the truth for fear of punishment, and or hurting his own pride. Instead he cries and gets off easy.
Another thing, I know that this film was not made for a western audience, but some things are hard to understand fully. I wish I could have at least had a subtitle for the song being sung in the mosque while the father was making tea and began to weep. I want to better understand why he is weeping, is he full of joy in the power of God, or is he thinking about how bad his life is and is sad? I know that Iran is a very religious country, so I guess it is just understood that he would be very religious, but I wish that I could have seen more of that aspect of their lives.
Also, one last complaint/question. I have no clue how the school systems work in Iran, but I did not understand how Zahra could go to school for a while, and then come home and trade off shoes with Ali, and then when he came home it still seemed like it was the middle of the day. How long/short is a school day in Iran? Do different grades go in the morning while other grades go i the afternoon(even though he was in third grade, and she was in 4th or 5th-pretty close grades to be splitting like that). That part didn't make sense to me, and it was an integral part of the story, and it just confuses me to how this would work.