Children of Heaven (1997) on Netflix
Ali loses his sister Zahra's shoes while buying potatoes. Rather than tell their parents, they share his pair. Zahra wears them to morning school and returns them for his afternoon classes.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb8.2/1091,362 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ali picks up his sister Zahra's repaired shoes from a cobbler, then stops at a grocer's for potatoes. A man takes the bag holding the shoes, thinking it is garbage. Knowing how little money the family has, Ali asks Zahra to tell their parents nothing. The two share his pair: Zahra wears them to her morning classes and races back so he can wear them in the afternoon. A third child has just been born and the household is short of money; their father, behind on his rent, does gardening work and wants Ali to learn the trade. Ali's teacher gives him a pen when he scores well on a test, and he passes it to Zahra.
Cast
- Amir Farrokh Hashemianas Ali (as Mir Farrokh Hashemian)
- Bahare Seddiqias Zahra
- Nafise Jafar-Mohammadias Roya
- Fereshte Sarabandias Ali's Mother
- Kamal Mirkarimias Assistant (as Kamal Mir Karimi)
- Behzad Rafias Trainer (as Behzad Rafiee)
- Dariush Mokhtarias Ali's Teacher
- Mohammad-Hasan Hosseinianas Roya's Father
- Masume Dairas Roya's Mother
- Kambiz Peykarnegaras Race Organizer
- Hasan Roohparvarias Race Photographer
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Children of Heaven (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In 1998, Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven became the first Iranian film ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, losing to Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful.
- Majid Majidi shot Children of Heaven in Tehran and tried to keep the filming secret so that the film would capture a more realistic image of the city.
- Singaporean filmmaker Jack Neo and his wife were moved while watching the film, and it inspired him to explore issues faced by Singaporean youths in his 2002 film I Not Stupid.
