"You're not a kid anymore. You're nine years old!"

Rating: 7/10 (6 November 2017)

On the face of it, this is a gentle and warm hearted movie that so many reviewers have detailed already that I won't have to go into an explanation of what occurred. The young actor portraying Ali (Amir Farrokh Hashemian) was quite incredible conveying the emotions involved with losing his sister's shoes, trying to explain the dilemma to her and dealing with the school principal who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Ali got to school late.
The sister (Bahare Seddiqui) was also quite good but not as accomplished as her sibling. I actually found the side story of Zahra dropping her pen and her new friend Roya returning it to be somewhat more compelling. The subject of the 'lost' shoes never came up between them, even though Zahra saw her wearing them, retrieved from the discarded material at the produce stand. One wonders why the subject never came up; one assumes Zahra was too shy or embarrassed to ask about them.
What I'm not understanding is why there wasn't more of a sense of closure for Ali and Zahra over the fate of the shoes. Granted, Ali went the extra mile by entering the race contest and winning, but in this case, it was the father who would inadvertently save the day with new shoes for both of them after earning a good day's pay. There is probably some meaning to be taken from the goldfish ending that eludes me, but it's something I won't dwell on. The film works as a feel good movie for the resolution of Ali and Zahra's plight, but I didn't get a sense of what was so extraordinary in the telling.