Wow! Such a good movie.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

In a poor Tehran neighborhood, Ali picks up a pair of shoes for his sister Zahra. He loses them while in a store buying potatoes. His father is a simple laborer and his mother is bedridden. He is desperate to hide the mistake from his father and decides to share his sneakers with his sister. The shoes may be small but the stakes do not get much higher. That is the universal truth and that is the greatness of this movie. The family has so little that those shoes mean everything. The kids are terrific. One can really feel their fear and embarrassment. These are big time performances and they have great humanity. The tension in that race does not get much higher. It is all about the stakes and that small prize has such big stakes. There is a parallel with the Bicycle Thieves and I dare say that this approaches that cinematic icon. This was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar but lost to Life Is Beautiful.

I really happy to see this type of movie; thanks for all. I want to this type movie in future. We can make this beautiful movies on next year. Children of Heaven really good movie.I do respect people's faith, but I don't respect their manipulation of that faith to create fear and control. It's happy us.

The film starts with Ali fetching his little sister Zahra's pink shoes after a cobbler has repaired them. He leaves them unattended to buy some potatoes. While he is pre-occupied, a homeless man picks up the shoes, hidden in a bag, thinking it was garbage and takes them away. Frantic to find them, the young boy thinking the shoes fell behind the crates knocks over plates of vegetables and is chased away by the grocer.Ali's family lives in a poor South Tehran neighbourhood, and are having financial trouble, so he fears to tell his parents about the mishap. The landlord argues with Ali's mother because she is five months behind on the rent, and the grocer has not been paid in a while either. Ali tells Zahra about the shoes and begs her not to tell their mother; she agrees. That night, Ali's father scolds him for not helping his ill mother when she asked. While the siblings were doing their homework, they passed notes to each other discussing what to do. They devise a scheme to share Ali's Converse sneakers: Zahra will wear them to school in the morning and return them to Ali at midday so he can attend afternoon classes. Ali does well on a test and his teacher awards him a gold-colored pen with the others in his class that got good grades; he gives it to Zahra to partially make up for losing her shoes. However, the uncomfortable arrangement between him and his sister leads to Ali being late three times in a row, no matter how hard he runs; the first time the principal ignores him, the second time he gives him a warning, the third time he tells Ali to leave and return with his father who is at work trying to make money. Ali's teacher noticing Ali's tears persuades the principal that Ali is at the top of his class and to give the boy one more chance and let him back into class.

Greetings from Lithuania."Children of Heaven" (1997) is a very economically told pure and simple story. I was genuinely caught into this movie from it's opening shot till the very last end. This is superbly paced and involving movie, which at running time 1 h 25 min. isn't to short nor it is too long - it's length and pacing are excellent. Acting was very good and natural by all involved, especially by children who portrayed young brother and sister. The story as the movie itself are very warm.Overall, "Children of Heaven" is a superb movie for all family who's best evening with a movie isn't bunch of popcorn and some Marvel flick. This is a very warm and charming movie that will definitely win you over. Great movie for whole family.