Despite its lame title, Children of Heaven, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998, is a heart-warmer of a film.  The story’s premise is superbly simple – an Iranian boy from a poor family, loses a pair of shoes belonging to his younger sister. Afraid of his father’s response, he convinces his sister to collaborate, and share his worn-out snickers while going to school (they go at different times,) until he can come up with a solution. The tale wears colors that may be unfamiliar to Western audiences, but given the film is told from the children’s perspective, it crosses barriers of time and culture magnificently. Casting is superb as well as the acting, and close to the film’s end it is hard not to feel complete identification with the little boy and his troubles.
What also sets this film apart is a sense of naiveté long lost at Western films depicting children. There is no cursing or explicit violence, nor is there a need for it in order to achieve emotional depth and quite a bit of children-style action. Highly recommended.