Angels of Today

 Angels of Today       

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Of all the inspirational movies I have seen, I find the movie: “Children of Heaven”, a distinct family drama movie which exposes world-wide and cross-cultural, not parochial, day-to-day human condition connected to the ravages of poverty and the importance and universality of familial love. It shows how determination could make a child succeed even in the direst circumstances. It also subjects stories of responsibility and sacrifice and other family and financial-related issues faced by many simple people living simple lives. It is unique for its gentle, relaxed style, an almost-poetic fascination with basic images (such as fish swimming in a pool) without the use of any special effects.

The film is realistic and highly spiritual. It brings a lot of ideal sibling relationship and familial characteristics of ordinary people that could be imitated and adapted by anyone.

Never once the children's emotions and guilt were minimized over lying to their parents. In their young age and in the midst of their difficulties from the lost of Zara’s shoes, they managed to persist in the situation and hide everything about it to their parents. They have considered the financial capability of their family and the possible circumstances of their confession about the lost of the shoes. The lost shoes rooted most of the hardships experienced by the siblings yet, they tried to fix and handle the consequences of the occurrence.

The consecutive tardiness of Ali, caused by the dilemma of shifting of the only pair of shoes the siblings have, without his reputation and grades regarded, almost caused him to be punished by the school. The shifting of Ali and Zara in wearing the shoes, from rushing from and to school, keeping the situation from the parents, to Zara’s wearing of shoes that doesn’t fit her, to handling the situation with patience and understanding, are sacrificial and loving. Among all, the revelation of an ideal sibling relationship is the most compelling in the film. The universal familial importance, love and regards that should be given by anyone to his/her family are well displayed by the characters of Ali and Zara.

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The distribution of house chores is another thing shown in the film. Even as young as Ali and Zara, they already can effectively and responsibly contribute and help in doing chores in their initiative. It illustrates how one should be eager to be useful for the family, even simple contributions and efforts count.

I find myself relative to this subject where at home, chores are equally distributed in accordance of age and capabilities. Although I was the only child of my parents, I was raised with my cousins. That’s why I could remember relative experiences same with what Ali and Zara had and situate myself to them as well. These tasks might be misunderstood and even hated by children whenever they’re assigned one but it’s like planting crops, where you can’t harvest the fruits of your labour instantly. When you grow up, you will get to appreciate the incentives you’ve earned from experiencing these chores. The value of being disciplined, of being organized, of being matured into handling even the most ordinary things neatly and being able to finish your tasks on time.

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The people’s confinement to poverty is another social human condition exposed in the film. It shows how the indigence brought by poverty chooses no colour, no gender and no age. Zara’s attention to her schoolmates’ shoes, her desire to have shoes like those is another and her inability to afford one, is another limitation caused by poverty. In the other hand, the film exposed the joy and pains of living a simple life and being a simple person in a simple family. In the midst of the difficulties entailed by poverty, the sweetness of joy, peace and contentment could still be found. And this is exactly what I want to reveal to the viewers that, relating it to the Filipino characteristics, we hardly lose hope and hardly give up into any undertaking that is on our ways. Positively, we are able to find joy and smile in the midst of difficulties.

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Personally, the film has empowered my perspectives into what selflessness, sacrifice, family, and determination mean. Children and even adults can surely relate themselves into the scenes as Ali, as Zara, as a parent, or as a member of the community who encounters people like them. One thing more, I have come into deeper realization that whenever we have done a mistake, whether it’s of our intention or not, we must face all the resulting consequences and make sure to correct it, minimize its damage, do your best for the people around you to be not affected, bring out the benefits from that mistake and learn from it.

Directed by	Majid Majidi
Produced by	Amir Esfandiari Mohammad Esfandiari
Written by	Majid Majidi
Starring	Amir Farrokh Hashemian Bahare Seddiqi
Music by	Keivan Jahanshahi
Cinematography	Parviz Malekzaade
Editing by	Hassan Hassandoost
Studio	The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	April 22, 1998  January 22, 1999 (US)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	Iran
Language	Persian
Budget	US$180,000
Box office	US$1,628,579