Children of Heaven

The film begins with Ali (played by Amir Farrokh Hashemian) walking into the shoe repair shop, to pick up his sister's shoes. When he left the shop, Ali passed by one of the local grocery stores to buy a pound of potatoes that his mother had asked him to pick up for her. Around that time, a junk man was going around, collecting all of the people's garbage. He stopped by the grocery store, picked up the garbage that was outside (along with the bag that has the shoes in them) and left. When Ali walked out of the store, he discovered that the bag with the shoes were gone. So he checked all over the grocery store to look for them. Unfortunately, he knocked over some cases of fruit as he was sticking his arms through the corners. When that happened, the grocer yelled at him and told him to get lost. So Ali ran behind a wagon, waiting until it was safe for him to go back to the store. When he went back the second time, the same thing happened to him again. (Poor Ali, now he has to go home and tell his sister the bad news.) He looked everywhere for it, but it was no where to be found. Poor kid has to walk home with a look of disappointment on his face. When he got home, the only question on Zahra's (played by Bahare Seddiqi) mind was: "Did you get my shoes?" He didn't want to tell her, but he had no choice. So when he broke the news to her, Zahra was very upset and she said things like : " How am I going to go to school tomorrow?" At this point, Ali is begging Zahra not to tell their parents that he lost her shoes. For if she did, he would up in a lot of trouble with their father.
When Ali's father (played by Mohammad Amir Naji) came home from work, he yelled at Ali for not helping his mother out around the house. He was very upset. He was insulting Ali and calling him all sorts of names. And by the look on Ali's face, the words that were coming out of his father's mouth were extremely painful for him. After the father was done ridiculing him, Ali went to do his homework on the floor. That's when Ali started to figure out a way for Zahra to go to school tomorrow. However, he knew that this was going to cost him something, but he didn't care. His only concern was getting her shoes back at all costs.
As the two of them were doing his/her homework, they exchanged notes to one another. And that's when Ali told Zahra that she could wear his shoes to school tomorrow. All she had to do was leave the house before him, go to school, leave school and hurry back to him so that he could go to school. There was only one flaw to his plan, he would arrive to school late. So each day Ali would have Zahra meet him in an alley by their house to exchange the shoes. The first day after her school finished, Zahra ran as fast as she her little legs could carry her to get to Ali on time. When she got there, Zahra gave him the shoes and he was off. Unfortunately, as he ran up a flight of stairs, the hall monitor stopped him dead at his track, questioned him about it and told him to go top his class. The next day, Ali was late for school again. The hall monitor stopped him a second, but before he send him off to class, he told Ali that the next time he's late, he will not let him in the building. And when Ali was late for a third time, the hall monitor did exactly what he told Ali what he was going to do. Fortunately for Ali, his teacher had a talk with the the hall monitor and Ali was allowed back in the building.
One evening, when Ali's father came home from work, he said to his wife (played by Fereshte Sarabandi) that Ali will work with him tomorrow. The job would require them to pose as gardeners so that they could make more money. So the next day, Ali and his father got on a bicycle and rode into this town that was far from their home. When they got to the town they were told to be in, Ali and his father started going from door to door, ringing people's doorbells and asking them if they need any gardening done in and around their home. Every house they passed by, they would receive rejection. That was until Ali came upon a house where a little boy started talking through the intercom. So the little boy called his grandfather over and let Ali and his father in the backyard. Ali's father went straight to work, while Ali was playing with the little boy. After the work was done, the grandfather of the little boy paid Ali's father, he thanked him and the two of them got back on the bike and rode off.
In the final scene, after begging and pleading with the coach, Ali had entered the race. He reason for doing so, was that he wanted to win the second prize that came with coming in second prize: a new pair of sneakers. He wanted to win them for Zahra. The race started and Ali was off. So he ran and ran for miles, as fast as he could. As he was running past some of the other boys, one little spoiled sport purposely pushed Ali into the ground. But Ali didn't stay there, he got right back up and ran even faster. At the end, Ali crossed the finish line first and won the grand prize. That same kid who pushed Ali, ended up throwing a tantrum, right in front of the whole crowd. Many (including the coach and Ali's teacher) were so excited and so proud of Ali. However, Ali was unhappy because he didn't win the shoes. And the film had to end on both a happy/sad note. This is one film that might never forget. Everything about was well done. I give it two snaps up in a circle. Great job.