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‘HEAVEN’LY CINEMA EXPERIENCE |
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It is very rarely that a film transcends
genres and languages and becomes a work
of art that can be appreciated by anyone
who is open to different experiences.
If you are excited by such a description
about a movie, then you must surely watch
Majid Majidi’s Children of Heaven.
We often talk about hugely exciting themes,
unexplored subjects and new vistas as
the solution to eliminating boredom and
redundancy in cinema. But, Children of
Heaven proves that mastery over the art
of filmmaking can make even the simplest
of themes into a binding on screen experience.
The reason why the term ‘binding
experience’ is used while describing
this movie is that this is unlike all
others. Most movies entertain, thrill,
scare, delight or make you laugh depending
on the genre to which they belong. But,
Children of Heaven binds you to the characters,
not allowing you to detach yourself from
their experiences. To say that Children
of Heaven entertains might be actually
demeaning to the creation on the whole.
It does not entertain, it makes you travel
along with the few characters and a pair
of shoes.
The theme of the film might look trivial
at first. But, slowly we begin to realize
that what appears to be the most trivial
matter to us might actually mean
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world to someone else, especially to those who have
very limited means of livelihood. It is this fact
that grows upon us as the film progresses. The film
also very subtly depicts the struggle of the poor
for many of the luxuries that the well to do take
for granted and how even children of a very tender
age know very well about their parents not having
enough money.
Majid Majidi makes us realize that it is the emotion
in a pursuit that makes it interesting, not the thing
that is being pursued. A pair of shoes can be pursued
with as much passion and emotion as a diamond might
be. It is the emotion that connects the viewer to
the pursuit, not the material. It is another such
story of a pursuit (though of a different kind) that
touched many viewers last year through a film called
Kancheevaram. Again, the material pursued might appear
trivial; a few yarns of silk; but the emotion behind
it made a strong case.
By now, you would have understood quite clearly that
Children of Heaven is not a regular movie. But, it
is definitely a highly recommended watch. There is
a general tendency to ask a potential audience to
keep their expectations down to a minimum while watching
a movie that does not entertain in the conventional
way. But, please do not drop your expectations while
watching the Children of Heaven. You can expect a
movie of the highest quality. Only remember to keep
your mind open and allow yourself some time to be
absorbed into the proceedings. Being an Iranian film
there is bound to be an initial discomfort with the
language, but that should be erased soon with the
available subtitles. And, there might also be a feeling
of unfamiliarity because of the vastly different backdrop
than we are generally used to. But all this fades
when you begin to feel the emotions of the characters
and then the Children of Heaven will definitely become
an experience that you would cherish and love to share
with others. And please, watch only the original work.
There have been pretenders and imitations, which even
being in a language that you can understand far better,
fail to capture the magic worked by Majid Majidi.
Go for it.
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| Tags
: Children
of Heaven, Majid
Majidi, Kancheevaram |
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