An Iranian film Bacheha-Ye aseman directed by Majid Majidi
A movie that talks about the purity and innocence of kids, shown through a very young brother-sister pair, Ali and Zahra, who belong to a family that lives on the fringes of society. The brother loses his sister's pair of shoes by mistake and given the poverty in his family, he can't afford to tell his father or mother that he has lost the pair as they can't afford to buy a new pair till the end of the month. He and his sister decide to share his sneakers and they wear the same pair to school, as their timings aren't the same. As soon as the girl kid completes her classes for the day, she rushes back to hand over the sneakers to her brother who then rushes back to the school again.
This routine carries on as Ali and Zahra hide this from their parents. As the tagline says, though it's a little secret, it results in their biggest adventure. An adventure which includes many events like one part of the pair falling into the gutter and Zahra chasing the shoe, the brother taking part in a marathon just to get the third prize which is a pair of sneakers, the siblings communicating at night through written words on paper just so that their parents don't find out, Ali gifting a special pen to his sister, Ali and Zahra washing the dirty shoe together and many more little endearing moments.
The movie's musical score has a heavily haunting contribution by the flute. The scenes when Ali and his dad go to the upmarket areas of the city on a Friday to make some money by gardening, are lifted heavily by the music. The aforementioned long distance running competition in the end makes for really emotional viewing as you get sucked into Ali's sincere and almost divine intentions behind taking part in the race. The scene when he convinces his master to let him take part in the race is again brilliantly done.
Amir Farrokh Hashemian as Ali and Bahare Seddiqi turn out to be among the most natural kids ever onscreen. They look so innocent, cute and never once does it seem like they are overdoing or even acting. It is as realistic and endearing as it can get.
One of the best ever feel-good movies for sure. Simple intentions and gives a real emotional high. Salutes to Majid Majidi.
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