Christianity Today

This is the third of a four-part series on some of the best foreign-language films—at least according to two of our critics, foreign-film buffs Agnieszka Tennant and Stefan Ulstein. This installment examines the best films from the Middle East. Part 1 looked at the best European films, and part 2 examined the best films from Asia; part 4, coming next week, looks at the "best of the rest" of the world.

If we were to rely solely on news headlines to give us an idea of people in the Middle East, it would be easy to lose sight of a basic part of every person in that troubled part of the world: a soul.

If you've seen too many news stories showing radical Iranians chanting "Death to America!" on TV, Palestinians blowing up Israeli buses, or Israelis fencing off parts of the territory occupied by the Palestinians, it may be difficult, at first, to reconcile these pictures with the disarming beauty of nature and complexity of people showcased in Middle Eastern movies.

On a day when the stories of violence or anti-Americanism seem too discouraging and thoughts of hate cross your mind, rent one of the following films. It will remind you that the people of the Middle East (which we define as extending roughly from Arab Africa through Turkey and Iran) long for meaning, love, peace, laughter, and God as much as we do.

Children of Heaven

(Iran, 1997)

It's hard for modern North Americans to imagine a movie that revolves around a pair of lost shoes, but our parents and grandparents who survived the Great Depression will understand it completely.

The story centers around a family of ethnic Turks who are relegated to menial labor in Iran. When a boy in the family loses his sister's shoes, he faces a beating if his father finds out—so the boy and his sister share a pair. When a running contest is announced, the boy is thrilled to find out that the third place prize is a pair of sneakers—which he wants to win for his sister.

This is one of the sweetest films in memory, but the children are not idealized. Their story revolves around what George Orwell called "the almost lunatic misunderstandings" of a child's daily life.

Content: Suitable for all ages.

Color of Paradise

(Iran, 1999)

Color of Paradise, much like Majid Majidi's other famous movie Children of Heaven (see above), is an endearing look at Iranian life. From the first scenes, you can't help but love the 8-year-old blind boy Mohammad, whose father, for most of the movie, is too proud to show his son the affection he craves. The boy has a wise and loving grandmother, whose wrinkled face alone is a study in hard work and goodness, and two sisters who adore him. But his father takes this happiness away from him by displacing the boy away from his family.

When Mohammad finally breaks down and weeps, confessing his fear that no one loves him and that God must have forgotten him, one marvels at the non-professional actor's authentic delivery. In the end, the boy, always desperately listening for God, proves to be more perceptive spiritually than many people who have eyes but cannot really see. You find yourself thinking together with Jesus that "the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." The mysterious ending leaves you wanting to see the film over and over. And you cry every time.

Content: Suitable for all ages.

Control Room

(Qatar/USA, 2004)

Those of us who have not actually watched Al Jazeera television probably only know of it through what we've seen through the eyes of American media. Egyptian born, Harvard-educated Jehane Noujaim has given us an uncensored look at the reality of this Arab language network with its headquarters in the Gulf state of Qatar.

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