
Children of Heaven by Majid Majidi (1997)
Children of Heaven (1997) is an Iranian family drama directed by Majid Majidi and shot by Parviz Malekzaade. The film charts the journey of Ali and her sister Zahra when Ali loses her sister’s pair of shoes and the challenges that they face after that. The film shows the condition of a working-class family of the time, where the bare minimum need is a dream. Shot in Tehran, it shows the contrast between the lower-class and upper-class neighbourhoods but keeps the canvas of the film very subtle.
“Resolution” Scene time 10’8”
The night following the loss of shoes, Ali’s father is breaking chunks of sugar that he got from the mosque and scolding Ali for not helping her mother wash the carpets. On the other hand, Ali’s mother is talking to his father about how the landlord is asking for the overdue rent. While Zahra is concerned about how she will go to school without the shoes. The whole scene is set in a room which is the only space the family rents. We could feel the concerns and problems that every one of them has in their own life and the space just supports the scene. The room is divided into two halves using camera angles. One half shows Ali and Zahra and the other half shows Ali’s father, his mother and a crying newborn. Keeping the field of view narrow and not showing a wider angle, the feeling of compactness of the space is retained. Mid-angle and mid-close shots are further used for the characters.
As the scene progresses, Zahra finds a way to talk to Ali about her concern. With no private space to talk, Zahra communicates with Ali by writing in a notebook and passing it to him. Ali answers her questions and passes the notebook back to her. The communication between them goes on until they reach an agreement. The following act is the centre of the scene. There’s a sense of fear and innocence in the whole act which is crafted very well through shot divisions, sound design and editing. As Zahra starts writing in the notebook the shot cuts to her close and then to the book, at the same time we can hear her murmuring as she is writing and a gradual decrease in the background sound of a baby crying, sugar-breaking and communication between father and mother. This treatment puts spectators in the position of the character. She then passes the notebook to Ali. He writes and passes the notebook back to Zahra. As they start communicating spectators are set to the visual pattern of showing the act. Listening is usually faster than reading. Thus the editor compresses the screen time gradually by cutting between shots faster and using the murmuring of Ali and Zahra to communicate to the spectators what they are talking about as they pass the book to each other. The scene ends with a resolution between Zahra and Ali where Ali tells her to wear his sneakers to school and once she returns, he will wear them and go to his afternoon school. Music fades in as we see a close shot of Zahra holding her pencil as she realises there’s nothing much they can do. Ali’s hands slowly enter the frame as he offers his pencil to Zahra and suddenly we realise Zara’s pencil is almost used. This particular shot is much beyond its technicalities. There’s the sense of emotion that the director has been able to make out of a very usual and ordinary thing as a pencil.
Throughout the film, the mood is kept very subtle. The minimal use of music that goes on very particular scenes drives the spectator's attention exactly where the director wants them to see and feel. The use of editing for time compression and expansion is very well crafted.
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