"Little Shoes", an Iranian children's film filmed in 1997, is worth every adult spending a quiet afternoon to experience.
The shots throughout the film are peaceful and clean, telling the story of a brother and sister with a pair of small shoes. The elder brother, Ali, is 9 years old, and the younger sister, Zahra, lives in Iran with their parents, and the family is poor. Once, Ali accidentally lost the shoes while helping his sister fetch the repaired shoes. In order not to be punished by his parents, Ali begged his sister to keep it a secret for the time being, and figured out a way for them to wear a pair of shoes to school instead. So, in order to pass a pair of broken shoes, the two brothers and sisters began to run and shuttle in the narrow alley. The whole film does not deliberately express the difficulties of life, but it reflects the innocence of children everywhere. The plot is not embarrassing, the performance is not artificial, the lineup is not gorgeous, and the dialogue is not sentimental enough, but it makes people cry in the bland.
Children who are too sensible are always distressing. Ali from a poor family took on the responsibility of being a family member prematurely, but at the same time he also understood that the most precious emotional connotation of a family is love and responsibility. The mother is sick, the two children are in school, and the other child is waiting to be fed. The family relies on the father alone to work to earn money to support the family. They love their parents, don't want to add trouble to their parents, they just want to do their best to solve the problem. There is no money to buy new shoes at home, so the two of them wear a pair of shoes. The shoes fell into the ditch during the fast run, so the brother and sister slowly wash the old shoes together.
As for his sister, Ali always harbored guilt. He tried his best to compensate her. Ali, who had excellent grades, got a golden mechanical pencil. He clearly liked this pencil, but he still pretended not to care about it. He gave it to his sister, and when he saw her smile, he smiled happily, his eyes full of tenderness and love. This kind of tacit and warm feeling between brothers and sisters is even more precious in such difficult times.
Director Majid Majidi said, "The adult world is fake, and the children's world is the most real." Yes, Ali and his sister are so pure, sincere and kind.
While Ali was building a garden with his father in a rich man's house, he was able to go on a swing with a wealthy kid who was about his age. Ali loves these carefree happy times, but he also knows that the two of them have different lives. He never complained about the poverty of his family, nor did he envy the rich life of the rich. When his father finished his work and was leaving with Ali, Ali quietly put the stuffed toy back into the sleeping boy's hand, as if he had never been there.
When Zahra found that her lost shoes were worn by a little girl in the same school, she took her brother and ran to the little girl's house angrily to get her shoes back, but because she saw the little girl's house and their They were equally poor, and when they saw that the little girl's father was still blind, the two who were hiding behind the wall looked at each other, unbearable and unwilling intertwined in their eyes, and finally they both chose to turn away silently. Not a single line, not a single note, just seeing the eyes of the two, I was deeply moved. Later, when Zahra saw the little girl put on new shoes and threw away her own shoes, even though she was very angry and unwilling, Zahra did not tell the little girl the truth.
The most impressive shot is the image of Ali running continuously to win the sneaker prize of the third place in the Games. Just like Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump, he insisted on his only belief and kept running. Even if he was knocked down by a resentful boy, he would get up and continue forward despite everything. In the end, fate played an untimely joke on him, and he ran to the finish line first and became the champion. Under the countless flashes of light, Ali raised his head that had been lowered, his eyes filled with tears of self-reproach.
When he returned home, Zahra knew from his brother's sad expression that his wish had not been fulfilled, and returned to the room in despair. Ali soaked his blood-soaked feet in the pool. The fish in the water swam over one after another and touched the little feet that were full of scars. The quiet picture, the soothing music, the light blue sky, and two pairs of brand-new shoes are faintly hidden on the rear rack of my father's bicycle on the street corner in the distance. Suddenly, I feel very warm and quiet.
Life teases us with dark humor, however, love finally gives us the most perfect ending.
Director Majid Majidi said in an interview: "We can easily build a bridge from the world of children to the world of adults. We will see ourselves in these innocent little people."
May we still retain the purest in our eyes when we grow up.
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