by Hal Erickson
synopsis
One of the few Soviet films of the 1930s to be directed by a woman, Broken Shoes is set in Germany just before the Nazi takeover. Hunger and desperation rule the land, a situation exasperated when a general strike is called. A group of German schoolchildren try to help their elders, and in so doing reflect the various political ideologies of their parents (some of the kids are Nazis, some are communists, etc.) Even so, it is the kids who solve the national crisis by forming a united front against the minions of Hitler. Alas, real life was not quite so rosy or optimistic.
