Children of Heaven

Thanks to this bout of free time I've been having lately, I managed to watch the movie "Children of Heaven" just now. No, it's not a movie about religion, it does not even have anything to do with religion! It has won quite a number of awards, such as the "Best Picture & Audience Award" at the Montreal Film Festival (seen in poster) and was the first Iranian film to be nominated for the "Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film" in 1999.

Source: Wikipedia

I find it a very beautiful movie. It illustrates the innocence of children and the simplicity and pureness of thought that they possess, uncorrupted by "adult practices" and ways of the world. Its Iranian origin (yes... Iranian) also highlights its simplicity, given that Iran isn't a very modern country. I shan't say too much because I seriously recommend you watch this movie!

Synopsis: A young boy accidentally loses the shoes of his younger sister. Due to a lack of family resources, they are unable to buy another pair for the girl, and both siblings end up sharing a pair of shoes, until the brother finds a way to acquire a new pair of shoes.

Sounds familiar? Then you may have been quite a supporter of local cinema because this is 90% similar to the plot of...

Source: Wikipedia

For the record, "Homerun" was BASED on "Children of Heaven"... not the other way around. I don't see why the Iranians have to plagiarize Jack Neo's work, haha!

I thought the title of the movie was very thought-provoking. My first reaction was "Why heaven?" It's not a religious film, so why invoke the terminology? Then it struck me, it's not pointing to any religion in particular. Not Christianity, not Islam (seeing that it's Iranian)... Rather, it's trying to say that children are created innocent and pure by nature. Every child is born fresh into this world, none are born evil or scheming (OK, I know not everyone will agree with this, but I believe majority hold this view).

This reminds me of my primary and secondary schools' motto (yup, affiliated schools): Pure & Honest. I suppose the heart of purity and honesty is indeed rare to come by these days, but it is indeed a wonderful thing to have. Despite the frailties of the world and all our concerns, shouldn't we aspire to have such a heart?


What would be your definition of "Children of Heaven"?