The Color of Paradise (2000)

It is a performances centric movie

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Dreadfully Boring

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The Color of Paradise starts and ends with sadness. The movie is full of misunderstanding, of confusion and in a way hate. We follow Mohamed through the movie, he is a happy little boy who goes to a special school for blind boys in the city were we first see him patiently waiting for his father to pick him up for summer vacations. From the first 10 minutes, we can sense the tension that will not go away for the rest of the movie. When Mohamed's dad finally picks him up, he is not able to see him but his dad looks at him with disappointment we learn latter on that he sees his son as a burden. We learned then why. Mohamed's mother died and his dad is trying to remarry to a young woman from their village and he believe his son is keeping him from doing so, he then sends his own son away to a bling carpenter to learn carpentry but this cost him a lot at the end and eventually ruins his life completely.We can connect each of the family member of the movie to the government of the country. Mohamed represents the people and his dad represents the country of Iran, where the movie takes place. The government sees its people as a burden, they wish they could get rid of them but if they do this they are left with nothing. While watching the movie with this mentality one can see the small hints here and there of how the government treats the people in Iran. It can also simply be a tragic movie about the life of a blind boy but I believe there is more meaning behind it than we would expect it to be. Either way this is a beautiful movie to watch, from its spectacular shoots to the charismatic little boy who is Mohamed and his truly tragic story of suffering because of his father hate towards him. You will cry at the end of the movie but you will have also witnessed a beautiful story that will be hard to forget any time soon.

What can I say about "The Color of Paradise" ! I could not take my eyes away from the film for a single second. I was infatuated, cherished to see a film like this. I was touched thoroughly. I felt extremely sad at the end. Acting, camera-work, dialog, direction, music, everything, everything is remarkable and exceptional. It doesn't matter how many time you watch this film, it will not be boring ever. Rather, it will revive you.I thought blind people are like dead people. They can not see the graceful nature, immensity of the world, thousands of color around, they can not differentiate light and dark, they always live in darkness. But, I did not aware of how strongly they feel everything and how colorful their mind can be. Now I see a lot of blind people with eyes, and how blind people see without eyes.

I had seen Majid's another film, "Children of Heaven", and surely had a deep positive impression through its natural manner in story telling style. It had a touching story too but screened in a rather natural manner.This movie, on the contrary, has a direct symbolic manner which I don't feel comfortable to get its message clearly. Too much symbolism kills the naturalness which eventually lead the movie to a dead end; indeed its final scenes are almost nonsense making me say "so what".I love Iranian movies very much, Iranian cinema has a deserved reputation all over the world, Majidi has a notable part of it. Regardless of the movie itself, I admired the country side where the movie filmed. I would like to have a chance to see those places in a same season of year. For me who is an obsessed admirer of nature, it would be relieving for my should struggling with city life.

A strong, moving tale of beauty and faith. Ramezani (blind in real life) plays a blind boy returning home for the summer from his school for the blind. He is considered a burden by his father, whom pities himself more than his son. The message of the film is one against self-pity. Mohammad finds beauty everywhere he goes, and it is captured in every frame. Seeing him find a bird fallen from its nest and returning it is a lengthy, simple, but captivating scene. Once he returns home, Mohammad reunites with his sisters and Grandmother. They all treat Mohammad as an equal, and use his "disability" to experience the world in new ways. It's difficult to capture the struggles of the blind in a visual medium, so looking at the unique feelings is a much more appropriate way of handling the subject. He amazes a teacher by reading with braille, he focuses on the sounds of birds, and he holds his breath as he hears the waves about to crash over his feet. Mahjoob plays the father well, but his self-pity becomes a chore for the viewer. He isn't cruel in an evil sense, just too whiny to really connect with. The sound department do a great job at singling out specific sounds as Mohammad analyses the world around him. Simple and powerful, The Color of Paradise shows true emotion through its unrivaled photography of the Iranian countryside.