It’s a long and sordid story, full of gremlins and such, but in the end it doesn’t matter.  A friend (of the internet variety, meaning I’ve never met them and they could be sitting in the next cubicle for all I know) suggested a movie to me, and I rented it and we watched it (finally) last night.  And if that isn’t the worst grammer I’ve used today, well, I don’t know what is.  Worse.

Ahem.

Okay, here’s the story.  “Children of Heaven” is a movie about a brother and sister.  Both young.  Poor.  It’s an Iranian movie, so it has none of the usual Hollywood flash (no Dakota Fanning).  The plot is simple, but the movie is beautiful and fascinating to watch:  A young boy loses his sister’s only pair of shoes.  So they have to share his sneakers; she goes to school with them in the morning (although they are too big for her) and he goes later.  Of course boys and girls go to different schools.  Together they dream of getting her another pair.

Their dad works hard but doesn’t make enough money, apparently.  There are arguments with the landlord over past due rent, and buying groceries on credit.

As it turns out, in town they are going to have a race for the school kids, a 4 km race, and one of the prizes is - a new pair of sneakers.

I don’t want to say more than that about the plot, but I’ll tell you some observations I had watching this with my two boys:

• They were glued to the screen.  Couldn’t understand a word of it – they don’t speak farsi any better than I do, which is not at all.  But the characters do so much with facial expressions and tone of voice that you don’t need it (that much).  Using the subtitles I would fill them in about the stuff that wasn’t obvious.
• They write right to left.  My second grader was fascinated by this.  He was puzzled, though, why he couldn’t read the credits at the end.
• The kids in the movie were super polite to their elders.  Asking permission to speak, etc.  Ahem.  I hope my boys were paying close attention.
• They were clearly poor, but clearly happy.  I think it’s good to see this in a movie (instead of the ‘if only I could get that dream job and move out, then I’d be happy’ message).  My children cannot fathom only owning one pair of shoes, much less having to share a pair between each other.  It’s something I hope to talk about with them.
• It’s interesting to see the interaction between men and women in the movie, and reflect on their culture a bit (as represented in the movie).
• Little things meant so much to these kids – a new pencil, perhaps.  This is absolutely alien to my little consumerists.

Worth seeing, certainly, and watch it with your kids.  This movie isn’t for everyone – there’s nothing blowing up, no singing clocks, no CGI, etc.  It’s a little slow, and (as my wife would say) very foreign.  But these are things I like in movies.  We can see Spongebob and talking toys all the time, but a glimpse into another world – not so much.

And if you do watch it or have already seen it, let me know your thoughts, please?