In This ‘Heaven,’ Dark Clouds Often Contain a Silver Lining

Majid Majidi’s “Children of Heaven” is so similar to “The White Balloon” (1995)--surely the Iranian film most familiar to American audiences--that this resemblance must be dealt with right off in order to judge the newer film on its own considerable merits.

In “White Balloon,” an adorable little girl meets disaster when she is given precious coins from her mother to buy a goldfish to celebrate the New Year; in “Children of Heaven,” a sad-faced 9-year-old boy (Mir Farrokh Hashemian) goes to pick up his adorable younger sister’s shoes at the shoemaker’s, only to find they’ve been somehow lost. In both films, youngsters go to extremes to try to solve the problems themselves and thereby prevent, at all costs, their impoverished parents from learning the truth. This means embarking on odysseys that bring them into contact with a cross-section of humanity.

“The White Balloon” has a stunning simplicity and unity, leavened with a wry humor, whereas “Children of Heaven” is wider-ranging and bleaker. In any event, the children in “Heaven,” who go to school (in Teheran) at different shifts, agree to swap footwear. Zahra (Bahareh Seddiqi) must rush home so that she can exchange her older brother’s sneakers for her own sandals. The film is enormously touching in its depiction of steadfast devotion between siblings, a devotion constantly being put to the test by fate and youthful human nature.

The children are terrified of their father (Amir Naji) yet understand the pressures on him to provide for them, especially since their mother is suffering from a debilitating back condition. The brother and sister’s various adventures culminate in the brother’s brave decision about how to get his sister a decent pair of shoes.

“Children of Heaven” has a glowing look and takes us into a world of ancient narrow alleys in which homes look like fortresses to the street, but within contain charming courtyards with fish ponds in the center. Majidi is not trying for social criticism as much as paying tribute to the potential for the noble, self-sacrificing gesture within the human spirit. Hashemian and Seddiqi are as irresistible as the tiny heroine of “The White Balloon,” and this film leaves you moved--but also wishing it didn’t seem so derivative.

* MPAA rating: PG, for some mild language. Times guidelines: The film may be too bleak for the very young.

‘Children of Heaven’

Mir Farrokh Hashemian: Ali

Bahareh Seddiqi: Zahra

Amir Naji: The Father

A Miramax release. Writer-director Majid Majidi. Produced by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. Cinematographer Parviz Malek-zadeh. Editor Hassan Hassan-doost. Running time: 1 hour, 27 minutes.

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