CNS Movie Review: Where God Left His Shoes

Where God Left His Shoes

By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Where God Left His Shoes" (IFC) is a deeply felt but unsentimental portrait of life on the economic margins that features an understated script and restrained but touching performances from a small cast led by John Leguizamo.

He plays down-on-his-luck professional boxer Frank Diaz. Two months after being evicted from their apartment, Frank and his family -- wife Angela (Leonor Varela), their daughter Christina (Samantha Rose) and Angela's son Justin (David Castro) -- have a shot at moving out of their cramped homeless shelter and into a housing project.

Frank's been working at a construction job "off the books," but in order to qualify must prove he has a legitimate and steady salary. With a deadline of 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, he and 9-year-old Justin crisscross New York in an urgent quest for employment, their search made all the more poignant by the festive mood of the city around them.

Justin's own father had physically abused both him and his mother. At once savvy and vulnerable, he disparages Frank freely, but longs for his affection nonetheless. Despite being driven to some low-level crimes such as turnstile-jumping and shoplifting, Frank is fundamentally decent and does his best to mentor the boy, warning him against the corrosive effects of fear.

A brief but questionable sexual discussion between these two aside, writer-director Salvatore Stabile's study of inner-city frustration -- aggravated by social humiliation and bureaucratic stonewalling -- quietly asserts the power of human dignity, marital fidelity and family solidarity in the face of even the most challenging circumstances.

Leguizamo is perfectly assured throughout, and his role in this somber tale offers him the chance to display a subtlety and gift for emotional shading largely absent from his portrayal of an up-and-coming lawyer in the Christmas-themed comedy "Nothing Like the Holidays."

The film contains some instances of petty crime, one use of the F-word, some crude language, brief sexual references and a physical abuse theme. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

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Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

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Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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