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by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
October 16, 2011
Have you seen the Iranian movie, “Children of Heaven”? If you haven’t, I urge you to watch it soonest.
Yes, it’s an Iranian movie, a film about Iranian children by an Iranian scriptwriter and director. And no, it’s not in English. It’s in Farsi, the most widely-spoken language of Iran. It’s totally non-Disney!
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I attended a two-day retreat organized by De La Salle University-Manila on September 1 and 2. The first day was capped by watching the film, “Children of Heaven.” It was 8:30 in the evening and we had just had a lovely dinner. I was sleepy. With heavy steps, I walked to the seminar room. I looked at the DVD case of the movie and realized that it was a non-Western movie. In fact, it was a Muslim movie!
We, Catholic teachers, were going to watch a Muslim movie? There must be a very good reason why our Lasallian retreat facilitators wanted us to watch this movie.
It begins with an old cobbler repairing a little girl’s pair of pink, worn-out shoes. A nine or ten-year old boy pays the cobbler and takes the shoes in a black plastic bag. He buys some bread, then he goes to buy some potatoes. He puts down the bundle of bread and the black plastic bag outside the grocer’s shop where boxes, crates, and garbage are piled.
While the boy is inside the grocer’s shop selecting some potatoes from a crate, a blind garbage man picks up the grocer’s trash. The garbage man takes the newly-repaired pink shoes as well.
Big problem. How will the boy solve it?
When the boy discovers his loss, he frantically searches for the shoes, knocks down the grocer’s boxes and crates, and is chased away by the grocer.
The boy goes home and we learn that his name is Ali. Zahra, his younger sister, asks eagerly about her pink shoes.
“Have they been repaired?”
“Yes,” Ali replies.
But the pink shoes have been lost.
“What would I wear to school?” Zahra cries.
Ali begs his little sister not to tell their parents. They are five months behind in house rent, and there is definitely no money for a new pair of shoes.
While doing their homework, the two children pass notes silently to problem-solve the case of the missing pair of pink shoes. Ali and Zahra agree to share Ali’s sneakers. Zahra will wear them in the morning and Ali in the afternoon.
Zahra watches the time in school carefully. She has promised Ali not to be late. She runs from school and meets him somewhere in the alleys of their neighborhood. They exchange shoes and slippers hurriedly. Then Ali runs to his school.
One day, Zahra discovers her old pair of pink shoes in the schoolyard. But her shoes have a new owner. She follows Roya, the new owner, and learns where Roya lives. Zahra tells Ali, and they go to Roya’s place to retrieve Zahra’s shoes by any means.
But Roya comes out of the house together with her blind father, the garbage man. Zahra and Ali’s grim resolve melts into empathy and they let go of the planned confrontation and retrieval. They continue sharing Ali’s pair of sneakers.
Time is too tight on some days. Ali arrives in school late a few times, is noticed by the school principal, and is almost sent home one day. But a teacher intervenes and persuades the principal to give Ali, an outstanding student, a chance. This teacher gives Ali a new ballpen as prize for an excellent mark in class.
Ali’s young heart glows with pride and happiness. He gives the new pen to Zahra to appease her a bit. He promises her that he’ll find a way to give her a new pair of shoes.
On her way home from school, Zahra drops the golden pen from her backpack. Roya picks it up and returns it to Zahra. What honesty! Zahra completely gives up the idea of retrieving her pink shoes from Roya.
As she runs home to meet Ali and pass on the sneakers to him, she drops one shoe into the gutter. She runs along the gutter to catch the shoe from the flowing water in the canal. But she couldn’t run fast enough. Finally, the shoe gets stuck in a drain. As Zahra cries helplessly, two old men help her catch the shoe.
Ali is mad at Zahra when she finally appears panting and breathless.
“Why is one shoe wet?” Ali asks.
“I dropped it in the gutter,” Zahra cries, then weeps quietly as Ali runs away.
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How does the movie develop and end? I won’t spoil your viewing delight by telling you. Let me answer why this Muslim movie was made part of the two-day retreat of some Catholic teachers.
First, it is an excellent movie which flies on the fragile wings of two children, Ali and Zahra. Although they have a family and a home, they lack many resources. This disadvantage is enough to discourage some adults, but Ali and Zahra literally sprint on as if trying to overtake and overcome their situation.
Second, Ali and Zahra have much faith in school. It is because of their desire to continue going to school that they share one tattered pair of sneakers. It is because of one teacher who believes in Ali that the principal gives Ali a chance. It is because of the sports teacher that Ali gets a chance to run in a long-distance race and keep his hopes up that he could win a new pair of shoes for Zahra.
Finally, I think the English title, “Children of Heaven,” is particularly significant. As Catholic teachers in a Catholic university, we know by rote that we have a Father in Heaven. Thus, we are children of Heaven, aren’t we?
As children of Heaven, we are all brothers and sisters bound by the Father’s overflowing love and mercy whether we are Catholics, Muslims, or nonbelievers. As teachers, our classrooms are communities which we can transform into little heavens on earth. It doesn’t take much to do so. Just giving a child a chance at going to school or at running a race. He or she might fail or lose, but he or she might also win. What matters is a chance to learn and an opportunity to win!