Made me smile from start to finish

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2009)

Until a fortnight ago I'd never seen an Iranian film and assumed any film from their would just be religious or political propaganda... perhaps there are films like that but having just watched this film and "Offside" it is clear that they also make fantastic character based films that are a delight to watch.
On the face of it a film about a poor boy losing his sister's only pair of shoes doesn't sound the basis for a film that is both interesting and a joy to watch but it works. With his mother too ill to work and his father in a low paid job young Ali promises his sister Zahra that he will get her shoes back if she doesn't tell their parents about the loss. When he fails to find them he offers to share his own footwear; an old pair of trainers. This means that as soon as her school is over Zahra must run through the narrow back streets to get the shoes to Ali so he can go to his school, even though he runs he is slightly late each day and is getting in trouble.
Director Majid Majidi did a great job getting such natural performances from his two stars, both of whom were young children. It is surprising that the children didn't go on to star in further films as they were both a joy to watch and made the viewer really care for their plight. The film might sound a bit boring and depressing but it isn't, there are a few sad scenes but for the most part it is a film that had me smiling from start to finish, I'll have to look out for more films from Iran.