Onde Mora a Esperança

John Leguizamo gives an effective heart-felt performance as down and out professional boxer sadly between gigs and now homeless with wife and 2 kids.

Highly evocative of the more widely acclaimed The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) with Will Smith, which coincidentally came out only a year before this film, and highly evocative of iconic Gloria (1980), the movie shows what happens when you make a series of bad decisions in life - and have trouble getting things back on track.

Leguizamo, apparently by design, is, to be fair, at times hard to root for. And just when he thinks he's getting a sympathetic ear and a "break" they all get snatched away at a critical moment.

The wife and kids, to their misfortune, also, can't help but lead a schemey scammy life as well but it doesn't help when dad sets bad example after bad example in front of the kids.

With the construction contractor's father in a methodical frantic search for Leguizamo presumably with some sort of lifeline, the viewer is just sure they would run into each other on the random in the final minutes of the movie - and life is beautiful again.

But I guess the filmmaker made a conscious decision to make a statement that life isn't always beautiful AND you can't rely on people giving you break after break to get through life.

I was pleasantly surprised when I rented this direct to video release. I didn't have a high expectation because most direct to DVD movies aren't great. Actually even the theatrically released films are usually a disappointment. John Leguizamo's performance was excellent as well as the rest of the cast. The little boy was great. It was very well written and directed. Everyone who worked on this should be very proud. The ending left me a little disappointed. It would have been nice to get a warm and fuzzy ending but still a great movie worth watching. It's nice to see a quality film that tells a story, has a message and actually develops characters that you care about. John did a great job making us believe in his character and forgetting we were watching an actor.

It had all the makings of a horrible Christmas tale and yet by the end there is much more to this than meets the eye.

Rather than opting more saccharine and tears this hits just hard enough and tough enough and has more relevance now than the film-makers could imagine.

Dealing in the main with the utter desperation of a family who find themselves living in shelter and hoping for more the pacing could be tighter and the ideas more fluid but the relationship between the father and stepson is very good indeed.

If you're patient and don't want a quick fix you will love this - but it is slightly askew in its overall tone - it struggles here and there to keep your attention - but overall I was surprised and pleasantly so.

A different take on Christmas and a different take on values...

The boxer Frank Diaz (John Leguizamo) loses his fight card on the Christmas Eve. He goes home and tells his wife Angela Diaz (Leonor Varela). Out of the blue, his family and he are evicted and they have to move to a homeless shelter with their children Justin and Christina. Frank has an application in a real state office that calls him to see an apartment. However Frank needs to have a labor contract to keep the apartment. Frank needs to finds a job on the Christmas Eve to have an apartment for his family. But it is not easy since he is illiterate.

"Where God Left His Shoes" is a heartbreaking movie about the desperation of a family man to find a job to be capable to rent an apartment for his family on the Christmas Eve. Unfortunately the story does not have end and become totally pointless. There is an old man seeking Frank out that is completely forgotten by the writer, maybe due to the restraint budget. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Onde Mora a Esperança" ("Where Hope Lives")

A truly brave look at the plight of the homeless without the sugary coating that is usually applied. Wonderful to learn how much help was given to homeless people from the making of this movie too! What a wonderful example for other movie makers to follow!