Bacheha-Ye-Aseman(The Children of Heaven)

Did I come third Sir? Asks little Ali at the end of the movie and with this line, ends “The Children of Heaven”. The line brought a big lump up my throat and some of the lump still remains even after 36 hours since I finished watching it. There are some movies which stay with you long after you finished watching them and you spend hours , weeks and even months reflecting on what you have experienced. Its happened to me on many occasions but rarely do you come across a movie which you wish, just never ended. You just wish that movie continued for eternity and act as a perfect getaway from the imperfect world that you exist in. Majid Majidi’s “The Children of Heaven” is one such rarity, an experience worth living a life for.

Waking up before 12-12.30 on a Sunday has been an absolute no no for me for as long as I can remember and hence I was a little worried about this habit of mine when I came to know that the movie was to be shown on Star movies at 11 am on Sunday. Somehow before going to sleep on Saturday, I made up my mind that, no matter what, I will take a break from my habit and get up at the right time. I did and am extremely glad that I did, because otherwise I would have missed, probably, the most cathartic cinematic experience of my life.

For me, cinema has always been the most powerful form of art, the most powerful form of telling a story worth telling. More than any technical wizardry or any path breaking narrative style, what I most look forward to in cinema is the ability of a movie to successfully tell the story it is supposed to tell. Unless a piece of cinema is able to strike a chord in your heart and make you experience and relate to the agonies and ecstasies of the characters, it’s not worth making, no matter how much money you have spent on it.

For many years now I have heard about the unadulterated beauty and raw power of Iranian Cinema and often wanted to be introduced to it. I have heard about the skill of directors such as Majid Majidi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Samaira Makhmalbaf and Dariush Mehrjui but thanks to the collections available at movie shops in India, never had a chance to experience their movies. Ironically, a country which has been at loggerheads with most of the westernized world for such long duration of time and has been looked down as a country trapped in a medieval time wrap, has quite a few cinematic lessons to teach to the more advanced(technically) movie industries of these countries. I am extremely fortunate that I got introduced to Iranian cinema this Sunday and I hope it’s just the beginning.

The movie is essentially a story of two 9 year old siblings, Ali and Zahra, belonging to an impoverished family living on the outskirts of Tehran. The story is all about the travails of the siblings who have to manage with one pair of shoes in between them as one pair belonging to Zahra is lost. The kids plan and manage to hide the missing of the shoes from their parents, as they know the trouble that their father would have to go through to be able to buy a new pair. I must mention here that, never have I seen a kid perform so well as the child Ali(Mohammad Amir Naji). He is simply astonishing and for people who liked Darsheel Safary in Taare Zameen Par or Jugal Hansraj in Masoom, you will be left bewitched with this performance. Ali is in an afternoon school and Zahra in a morning school and hence they think that they can manage with only one pair of shoes between them, but no matter how quickly Zahra runs home after her classes, Ali is invariably late for his school because of this stop gap arrangement.

As an audience used to movies addressing the most complex issues prevalent in the world and tired of all the cynicism and sense of gloom on display in almost every other movie, the fact that the lives of the lead pair are dictated by the nothing but a pair of missing shoes strikes you like a lightning bolt. The beauty of this movie lies in the simplicity of its story and the unpretentious nature of its narrative style, not to forget the stunning performance of the leads. The story is so simple and yet it has so much raw power that you get Goosebumps all along the one and half hour duration of the movie. There is this especially moving sequence in which the siblings trace the lost pair of shoes to a girl and follow the girl to her house with a desire to confront her, but as soon as Ali and Zahra find out that the father of the girl is a blind hawker selling his ware on the streets,they forget about their plans of confrontation. It’s a stunning scene and you are left awestruck at the wisdom of the kids, indeed, only if adults like us who shape the future of such kids had even an iota of that wisdom, the world would have been a much better place to live.

The movie ends with Ali participating in an interschool running competition, his interest being aroused because the third prize to be won is a pair of snickers. Ali knows that he can win the race if he tries but he doesn’t want to come first or second(the first and second prizes are something else) and all he is after, is the third place and the pair of shoes. Ali runs his heart out and gets completely drained by the closing stages of the race, somehow he manages to cross the finish line and is embraced by his delighted teachers. That’s when he asks, Did I come third Sir? No, he didn’t come third (he came first) and the expression of disappointment and anger on his face as he realizes this, is a sight to behold and treasured in the history of world cinema.

Thank you Iran and thank you Majid Majidi for giving us an experience which reaffirms the age old adage that “beauty lies in simplicity”. In a cinematic world order dominated by big budget studios and high flying directors pursuing technical wizardry, your story stands out, stands out for the beauty in its simplicity. May your ilk grow by the dozens.