Children of Heaven

Children of Heaven takes place in Iran and involves a hard working poor family who live a honest, humble, and modest lifestyle. The Mandegar family has a hard time making ends meet. They’re a few months late on their rent payment, and even their groceries need to be put on a tab to pay later. Ali the young boy in the film, goes to the store to grab groceries. When he puts his sisters shoes down, they get picked up and they are gone for good. Ali goes home and tells his sister Zahara the bad news and tells her that they can share his shoes until he can get her another pair. Zahra soon discovers her lost shoes are worn by Roya, a student at her school. After school, Zahra brings Ali to Roya's house where they witness Roya's father is blind and that their family has the same economic hardship as they do. Ali, being the unselfish brother gives away anything he has to his sister Zahra. He talks to her with a great deal of respect, kindness and love. He is affectionate towards his sister and tries to make her as happy as possible. Ali refuses repeated invitations from the neighborhood boys to join them in a soccer match; he tells them his mother is ill. Ali is a hard working student and earns top grades in the class. Zahra is a responsible, hard working daughter and sister. She worries that she will be late to give the sneakers to Ali and runs to meet him for the exchange. Sometimes it doesn't work out and Ali is consistently late to school, where one of the teachers tells him he will send him home and eventually does before another teacher saves him. Amir, the father and the man that makes all the money of the Mandegar family, tries to seek a more reliable, higher-paying job. He currently serves tea at male gatherings, but the small income doesn't pay off the debt and bills. Ali goes along with his father to find a job at an upper class town. Amir dreams of a better life after finishing a yard job. He talks about items to purchase for his family. Ali only asks his father to purchase new shoes for his sister. On the way home, the brake to their bike breaks and getting Zahara a new pair of shoes is out of the question. Theres sign ups at school for a race where the third place winner get a new pair of shoes, Ali doesn't see it in time and misses the deadline. After begging and crying to his teacher he is aloud in the contest and finishes in first place. I didn't enjoy this movie as much as others because it has a small plot and is a very slow boring movie. It is definetly a quality family movie that i think a lot of families would enjoy. The movies is a heart warming meditation about real goodness in humanity—helping balance the negative prejudices that most Americans project towards Iranians.