Watch Children of Heaven

The film Children of Heaven is a heartwarming family drama from Iran. It was written and directed by Majid Majid and nominated for an Academy Award. The story focuses around the struggles of a brother and a sister named Ali and Zahra who come from a poor Iranian family. One day Ali goes to the cobbler to pick up Zahra's mended pink shoes. On his way home, Ali stops to buy some potatoes and leaves Zahra’s pink shoes on a crate, where a blind garbage man mistakes them for trash and takes them away. This begins Ari’s quest to find a way to provide Zahra with shoes without having to tell his parents they are missing. His parents already have enough to worry about with four months back rent and a late bill at the grocers. Zahra agrees that telling their parents would not be the best option. As a temporary fix so that Zahra can go to school, Ari develops a plan to share his Converse shoes with Zahra. Zahra wears them to her morning classes and passes them onto Ari to wear at his afternoon classes. But the distance Ari has to run back from Zahra’s school every day makes him late three times. Although Ari is doing well in school and has even been awarded a gold painted pen for good grades, the principal threatens to kick him out for his poor attendance. This puts pressure on Ari to find Zahra a pair of shoes as fast as possible. After many more attempts at finding Zahra her pink shoes, or just any shoes at all to wear, Ari finds an opportunity he is determined to make work. In a desperate final attempt, Ari competes in a children’s long distance footrace in which the third prize is a week of summer camp and a brand new pair of shoes.