Children of Heaven (1997)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Very brilliant film, with (not only) children acting very naturally. A simple story of brother and sister hurrying up to lend each other the only pair of shoes they have, after the brother lost them. It's also a story of material poverty of the children, but richness in feelings and beauty between a brother and a sister. It reminded me of some neorealism italian cinema movement. It's a wonderful example of cinema based on feelings and acting rather than budget.

This was a perfect 10 but I was just a bit disappointed with the ending of the movie.

Ali has a problem. He has just lost the prized pair of shoes of his sister, Zahra. He tries to find them but to no avail. Now he and Zahra have to share shoes at school, a situation which causes all sorts of problems. Ali comes up with other plans to get Zahra a pair of shoes. Meanwhile, Zahra thinks she may have tracked down the new owner of her shoes.Sweet movie from Iran. The spin-off events from the loss of the shoes and the adventures of the kids are quite entertaining. Also a great, warmth-filled reminder of life's simple pleasures and how things which may seem unimportant to one person in one culture and/or socio- economic sphere can be vitally important to someone with different circumstances.Not particularly profound though. The movie doesn't really come up with much in the way of profundities or even a powerful conclusion (in fact, the conclusion is fairly weak). It's a simple, linear story with very few frills or great twists, told engagingly and with great warmth.The movie was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1999 Oscars, losing out in the end to Life is Beautiful.

It's been a long time since I first watched this movie. Maybe its about 10 years ago when I was in 5th grade elementary school. That time, I don't care too much about this movie. I'm not touched that deep. Now I'm nearly 24 and by accident I watch this movie again. Then bammm... As I grow mature, this movie has changed into a great movie, I touched so deep. I'm so lucky when I take a trip by train, It play this movie in it's train television. It was a gift and thankful moment in my life. I totally forget about this movie before, and by accident, I blessed by fate to witness this masterful story of incredible movie which unknown to most people. Thank you fate..CoH is a story of brother and sister who struggling for their life. They only have one pair of shoes, but both of them need it for school. They have a kindly-hearted father whose a gardener and a hard-worker man. He want to bought them a new shoes, but by accident He face so many problems until the plan was hard. One time, the brother see a long marathon competition with a prize of shoes if winning at 3rd position. So He take a gamble to use their current shoes to join the competition. Neither if the shoes will broken or they get a new shoes. This was when the sacrifice element of the movie exist. A very strong kind of sacrifice element. Simple, but sharp as sword. CoH is a seldom-kind of storyline crafted sharply by unknown Iranian director. The brother make a promise to the sister to win at 3rd place. Unfortunately, the brother win the first place. He regret it so much..The problems by problems coming by soft suspenses but surprisingly sad. The ending is so perfect for this kind of story. A cinematic and piercing scene. A shot of broken shoes, into a shot of moving legs to pond, into a shot of fish coming to legs.. What an Incredible cinematic scenes.. Truly classic..CoH's storyline is not sentimental or temperament, yet It's not complex. It's just simple, deep, and powerful. It's been a while since i watch strong drama like this. A rare-made movie. I watch this movie with no volume at all because the TV position was too far from me. It's like i watch a silent movie but in color. I only see the subtitle, but the impact that CoH give to me was so deep. With no melancholy sentimental back-sound but still have a proweness execution of storytelling. It's like a Hollywood 30's classic film such as those old Chaplin's but made in modern time, but of course still not reach the beyond level of Chaplin. Still, CoH was a kind of universal and full of humanities.The performance were near flawless. All the emotions, eye-contacts, and gestures were executed correctly. Especially the brother and the father. Natural Iranian style performance they did were amazing. The cinematography is not good as Hollywood classics, but CoH still have a few good scenes, We should appreciate that. The writing is splendid. The character development executed in exact duration. Not too much but not too small. Writing is the strong point of this movie beside the performances.This is an underrated classic Iranian made by unknown director. In this movie, the director nearly pass the standard of Asghar Farhadi, the current Iranian famous director. I remember most people that sit near to me giving huge applause by the end of this movie. From teenagers to adolescents. They all said "What a good movie" and "What a sad movie". Most of them shaken and most of them admiring CoH. They share comment to each other besides them. What a movie.. It's an audience shaker guys !