A Perfect Relationship

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2007)

Children of Heaven with director Majid Majidi is a movie with an excellent portrayal of a relationship between a brother and sister. It is easy to see the compassion and love they have for one another. The movie immediately begins with the loss of Zahra's shoes with Ali at the blame. The rest of film follows Ali and Zahra on their adventures to find the shoes and living with only one pair shoes.
The things that Ali sacrifices and does in his relentless search for the shoes are very touching. His continued lateness to school, wearing wet shoes, and entering a 5KM run just to win a pair of shoes is amazing. Even with the lack of support from Zahra, Ali still trudges along to find those shoes. Since his family cannot afford another pair of shoes, Ali and Zahra must share Ali's shoes. Zahra must run from school to meet Ali to exchange the shoes and Ali must from there run across town to get to school. Ali even had to run in wet shoes after Zahra loses the shoe in a gutter. No matter how frustrated Zahra got or how tired he got, Ali did not waiver in this promise to find the shoes. The most heartwarming scene was during the race were Ali was beginning to fall behind and all he was thinking about was his continuing promise to find Zahra's shoes.
Outside of the overall themes, this film portrays a great brother-sister relationship between Ali and Zahra. Ali's persistence to find Zahra's shoes is very heartwarming. Beautiful frame and editing work by the director helps in every aspect of this movie. Overall it's a very pleasant movie with several touching moments.