The Color of Paradise

Rating:
Summary: BEAUTEOUS!!!
Review: This was one of the most beautifully filmed movies I have ever seen, of an area which I had never "visited" before on film. It showed Iran in all its beauty, lovingly and emotionally.

The young boy who plays the role of the blind child, Mohammed, was extraordinary. His scene near the pond with the blind carpenter was one of the best I have ever watched. The director also did some wonderful things with the boy's hands: when he read and "wrote" his Braile materials, when he learned about something by feeling it, when he searched for the tiny bird in the leaves.

This movie showed the power of family love and the devastation when a child feels unloved. It also allowed the viewer to get a glimpse at the way of life in the countryside of Iran.

I would highly recommend this touching film....you cannot help but be affected by it.

Rating:
Summary: Eyes wide shut.
Review: Shakespearean tragedy, Iranian-style. Majid Majidi's *The Color of Paradise* is a masterpiece, better than his splendid *Children of Heaven* -- though I don't think this film will win over as many adherents as the latter. The subject-matter here is pretty dark and difficult to take, involving the tribulations of a blind boy at the mercy of a struggling father who no longer has the will to provide for him. The movie's theme is refreshingly simple, perhaps even simplistic, having to do with blindness not being merely the absence of functioning eyes, but rather as a state of mind. Majidi provides an easy contrast, showing many scenes of the boy Muhammad listening enraptured to the sounds of nature around him while his dad putters about in sullen, worried self-absorption. Who's really "blind"? The story and its themes feel timeless, as old as humanity itself. The primeval and absolutely stunning location -- a rural and forgotten paradise in the north of the country near the Caspian Sea -- contributes a great deal to this feeling. (The movie is aptly titled.) So, yes -- the story is simple, but in the hands of a master. Majidi has the requisite patience to immerse us in Muhammad's aural and tactile world: the viewer can almost feel the coarse stalks of wheat when the boy runs his hand over them in a field, can smell the perfume when his grandmother pours boiling water on tubs of collected flower petals to make dyes, can believe that the multiplicity of bird chatter is right outside his own house, can see the falling chicken feathers drift down like snow in his own living room. Majidi is good with human nature, too: judicious close-ups of the natural-looking (i.e., real-looking) actors tell their own small stories, mitigating the need for excessive chat or exposition. Or explanation. Majidi's debut, *Children of Heaven", was a film about kids that kids could (and should) watch . . . but *The Color of Paradise*, while about a kid, veers into tragedy as old as Sophocles by movie's end, and as such is not entirely recommendable to children. But don't let that put YOU off: true artists, like Sophocles and Majidi, have the power to give significance and form to human agony. And, as the very last shot of *The Color of Paradise* amply illustrates, the results can be heartbreakingly beautiful, indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Tear Jerker!!!!
Review: This is quite possibly the best movie I have ever had the privilege of viewing. I have watched it 5 times and am moved beyond words each time. Prepare yourself to be moved into a different world where little things mean the most. Also, keep plenty of Kleenex around-you'll definitely need it!

Thanks Majid Majidi!! I eagerly await your next great treasure.

Rating:
Summary: This is Cinema!
Review: I can not recommend this film enough!! It is simply a beautiful touching story, told with such dedication and love..this film is what cinema is all about.
The fact that this film comes from Iran, should be an example of how universal the art of cinema is.
Majidi is certainly one of the best directors from any nationality. After making a masterpiece in Children Of Heaven which will be released on DVD in September, he scores yet again for the enjoyment of us all with Color of Paradise, a story of Mohamed, a blind boy, and his relationship with his father, the excellent Hussain Mahjoub, with his sisters, his grandmother,and with nature.
It is a tragic story filmed without falling in the trap of sentimentality.
It is a universal story, and the little Mohamed can be any blind boy in any country in the world..this is why Majidi's films while Iranian in their setting, they touch every viewer from any culture. He also has the sensitivities to his surroundings and subject matter of great directors, such as Truffaut and De Sica.
Majidi and most Iranian directors have used amateur children in the lead role to excellent effect, and the world we see through the eyes of these children, is filmed with such care and understanding.
Iranian cinema has gained international recognition, especially in Europe, taking several awards in Cannes and Venice, and it is such a great achievement for the art of cinema itself, proving yet again that it is one form that can bring cultures together in a sophisticated platform.
The scenery in Color of Paradise is breathtaking, and will surprise many as i was, by how beautiful a country Iran is.
The cinematography as well is top class, clearly evident in the last scene, very well filmed and edited.
If you love cinema then you should add Color of Paradise to your collection, for it is a feast to your senses.

Rating:
Summary: A gift of sight
Review: I saw the movie "The Color of Paradise" on video the other night. Set in Iran and shown in Persian with English subtitles, it 's a film superbly written and directed by Majid Majidi, also known for his remarkable film "Children of Heaven". With excellent cinematography and great music, "The Color of Paradise" offers us a look at another side of Iran we don't usually see or have never seen before. Throughout the film, scenes of the country's rich vegetation, lush landscapes and majestic mountains almost give us a glimpse of paradise. A beautiful story supported by fine performances of the whole cast, particularly of the blind young actor in the main role, it's a refreshing second look at a country less familiar and its people. The film not only shows some of the country's customs and beliefs but also reveals what is universal to us all. Simple acts of heroism, as when the blind boy struggles to climb a tree to rescue a fallen little bird... a woman's unselfish love and sacrifice for her son and grandson... the young girls' pure joy of seeing the smile in their grandmother's eyes as their brother returns home... a blind boy's tragic sense of being abandoned...a father's sense of failure and of redemption. The film is filled with travels into the human heart, and what we discover is that which reaffirms our similarities, one common tie that binds us all. What I love most about the film is that it shows how the blind boy's heightened senses, his touch, his hearing, and his heart, took the place of his eyes as his window to the beauty and promise of life around him. In spite of his handicap, he exemplified courage, enthusiasm, and the awareness to experience life. The film brings to mind the message that Jesus told his doubting disciple Thomas: blessed are those that have not seen but yet believed. Although Jesus was talking about faith, I think we could extend the message he gave to how we view life, how we perceive its beauty, its promise in spite of adversity, in spite of broken dreams. The boy is blind but he sees life, and embraces it with fervor. The film is touching, leaving me with a feeling of yearning to be able to see as the blind boy does....

Rating:
Summary: A parable of the lost father and his blind son who sees.
Review: Iranian filmmakers are always going to have a hard time competing with Hollywood in the West. But with "A Color of Paradise", director Majid Majidi (acclaimed and best known for "The Children of Heaven", a story of a brother and sister who share the same pair of shoes) has produced a film that in content, themes and beauty makes a great deal of modern blockbusters look nasty and expensive. In Arabic (with English subtitles), it's the story of eight-year old Mohammad, a blind boy who attends a school for the blind in Tehran. When the school breaks for the summer months, Mohammad's father is the last to pick him up, even then only after trying to have the school keep the boy. His reasons become obvious after he retreats to his home in the Iranian countryside: taking care of his son is a burden in his quest to win the dowry and the hand of a local woman in marriage, and his son is a threat to his own future well-being. As Mohammad enjoys life in the picturesque countryside with his two sisters and grandmother, he is oblivious to his father's plans to get rid of him.

The movie develops a sharp contrast between the boy and his father: despite the fact that he can see, his father is caught up in blind selfishness where he cares only about himself; Despite his blindness, Mohammad "sees" the beauty of life, and is full of wonder at the sounds of birds and the magnificence of creation. As the blind boy reads the Braille alphabet in nature and reaches out to its helpless creatures, it becomes evident that the abandoned baby bird he rescues, as well as the trapped fish and overturned turtle we see are really metaphors of Mohammad's own helplessness before his father. The boy's grandmother is a quiet figure, but she sees both her blind grandson's worth and her son's moral corruption. But can anything save Mohammad's father from his own selfishness? He's already lost his first wife, but now his selfishness threatens to make him lose his mother, his son, and even his future wife. The story switches gears towards the conclusion with some tense drama and action scenes revolving around a broken bridge and a raging river. The stunning ending features a moving closing scene that leaves open lots of questions and is sure to create lots of discussion among viewers.

"Color of Paradise" may lack the big budgets and spectacular effects available to Hollywood - and at times it shows - but on the whole this story has a gentle and poignant beauty that touches the heart. There are many in Western society who have the eyes of Mohammad's father, yet share his inner blindness. For such "seeing" people and for us all, this is a "must-see" movie that may change the way you look at others and at the world. - GODLY GADFLY

Rating:
Summary: Five Stars Aren't Enough
Review: "The Color of Paradise" (2000) by the Iranian director Majid Majidi, and his "Children of Heaven" (1997) which was released just before it, are magnificent films, which gain much by being reviewed together.

"Children of Heaven" (the Farsi title, "Bacheha-ya Asseman," is closer in meaning to "Children of the Heavens" or "Celestial Children") is not so much a children's film as a film about children. It is a children's film almost in the same way that François Truffaut's "Small Change" (1976) is a children's film, although some of the subject matter of Truffaut's film demands more maturity on the part of the viewer. "Children of Heaven" tells the story of a young boy who inadvertantly loses his sister's shoes. Afraid to tell their parents, they share his sneakers, which is possible since their classes are staggered. The film is about how this catastrophe is resolved. Along the way we learn a lot about this poor Iranian family, all living together in one room, sleeping on mats on the floor. It is a wonderful story, full of warmth and growth, told from the boy's point of view. I dare not tell more. It is an excellent film. But "The Color of Paradise" is even better.

"The Color of Paradise" (in Farsi: "Rang-e Khoda," literally, "The Color of God") is a very different film, about a poor widower, living in a village near the Caspian Sea, trying to support his widowed mother and his three small children, one of whom, the boy, is blind. The father is hoping to remarry, and he is worried that the bride-to-be's supersticious family, if they learn that he has a blind son, will regard him as an unsuitable groom. While the marriage negotiations are taking place, the boy, who is gifted, is attending a special school for the blind in distant Teheran. What is the father to do during the fast approaching summer recess? He tries to hide the boy in various ways but is constantly thwarted. Then events take place which have an immense effect on all his plans. I dare not tell more.

The story is told sometimes from the father's point of view but mostly from the point of view of the 10-year-old blind son. Nonetheless, it is the father's story which is paramount, not the son's, a fact that has been lost on almost all of the critics, from Roger Ebert on down. Since the earlier film, "Children of Heaven" was largely a children's film, and this film is told mostly from a child's point of view, this was the natural take for the critics, writing against a deadline. That view of the film is helped by the fact that Majidi has made the father's story less prominent in the film, as it is in his life, a clever conceit. But the fundamental story is the father's. It is in the father's story that all of the ironies occur. It is he whose actions and needs drive the story. The son, however attractive and prominent he may be as a character in the film, is largely passive to the circumstances in which he is thrust. I seem to be largely alone in my appraisal. I have found only one review on imdb.com (in German), whose take on the film is at all similar to mine. My Iranian friends, however, find merit in my perspective.

It is interesting that most of the customer reviews of this film at amazon seem to come from very religious people who see this as largely a film about religious experience. That is certainly part of the film. But it is also a film about the ironies of human endeavors and about the conflict between duty and personal need, and these aspects, perhaps, are the richer part of the story.

This is a very remarkable film. When I rented it the first time (fortunately, without the "benefit" of having already seen "Children of Heaven") I was so overcome by it that I watched it three times in rapid succession, even turning off the subtitles the third time, because I didn't want them to distract me from watching the actors more closely. Now I own the DVD and have watched it even more. This may be one of the greatest films to be produced in the past decade, and I say this as someone who usually shuns religious expression. But not here (and not either in "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), which is now on DVD).

Rating:
Summary: Life altering.
Review: I wish everyone in America could see this movie to understand the beauty that exists outside our borders in lands we have never thought twice, or even once, about. Truth is, we have so much to learn from the sensibilities of these far older peoples and from their history. The Color of Paradise opens that door for us to walk through the rest of our lives, and for that reason it is priceless. This movie shattered me, just as I knew it would. And it did it in a way that only art can, by exploring our most anciently held beliefs about love, honor, beauty, family, and God and ultimately changing how we feel about all of it, for the better. And it did as lightly and effortlessly as a feather falling to the ground. I will never forget this film, or want to, for the better person it has made me. Little Mohammed, you will always be with me. And may we all strive during the course of our lives to reflect the love you so naturally give us!

Rating:
Summary: GORGEOUS !!!!
Review: I don't really know what more to say. It is one of the best movies i have ever seen, maybe the best. the movie says so much - with very few words. It is the kind of movie that changes you inside.

Rating:
Summary: a thrilling work of art
Review: This is a truly remarkable film.
It also represents the kind of film experience that can serve to enoble its audience.
It has been many years since a film has made me believe myself to be a "better man" for having seen it. This was my initial reaction--in the weeks that having followed this first viewing, the film has never been far from my thoughts.
For those who have not yet experienced this profoundly beautiful work, please do so knowing that there are three or four scenes that will never be forgotten by those who see them.
I envy you the experience of your first viewing.