After picking up his sister's shoes from the repair shop, a young boy stops into the market on his way home, sets the pair aside, and finds they have been stolen. Under fear of his father's discovery he begins to share his own shoes with his sister while he attempts to retrieve the purloined sneakers until he learns of a footrace where the third place prize is a brand new pair of footware. Iranian based Children of Heaven is a universal film that anyone can relate to (it took me back to a terrifying incident where I broke the arm off the old man's favorite chair and had to think on my feet while repairing the break and concealing the crime). While seeming to draw from The Bicycle Thief both in set-up, simple emotions, and social awareness it is no less heart rending and contains no fewer than three exciting and uniquely drawn action sequences.
**** out of ****
