Children of Heaven

This year, I witnessed Lebron James win his second NBA title. I noticed how elated he was along with the entire Miami Heat organization. It’s a strikingly different reaction in the movie “Children of Heaven” though, as we watched Ali win the marathon but unhappily so. He was hailed as the champion yet his head is still down. Ali isn’t happy because he came in third because he wanted so desperately to win a brand new pair of sneakers for his sister, Zahra.

This movie gave us a taste of Iranian culture as I’m sure many of us are actually unaware of. I noticed that the areas of the rich and poor people are separated. Gender also plays a big role in society as boys and girls take schooling separate. The movie showed that the Iranian’s dominant religion is Islam as shown through the Mosque scene and the clothing of the characters in the movie.

The scene that struck me the most was when Ali begged the school’s sports coordinator to put his name on the list of runners. Ali broke into tears as he was uttering the words “Please coach I’ll leave everyone behind. I promise to win” to convince his coach to put him on the list. How can anyone say no to a kid like that? What’s more important is that Ali wants the chance to participate just to come in third so he can give Zahra a new pair of sneakers. Maybe, Ali’s guilt over losing her shoes and the strain of their arrangement on his schooling life (being late constantly) prompted him to do this but I think it’s out of the genuine desire to make his sister happy again.

At the end, Ali is declared a champion, and he is hoisted high and mighty. Ali meets with his sister and just told her that he didn’t get third. It is shown that Ali’s sneakers finally gave up. He removed his worn out sneakers and dipped his feet in a pool of water. I think Ali will make a great athlete someday if he keeps up with his will to win. It is seen in the movie that Ali loves