Colour of Paradise
1999
Iran
Director: Majid Majidi
Cast: Mohsen Ramezani, Hosseim Mahjub,
Salime Feizi.

Hashem resents Mohammad for being blind, as he is trying to woo a local girl, and convince her parents that he is a good match for her, even though she is a rung above him in the social ladder.  He sees Mohammad as an unwanted chain around his neck.

The father resenting the boy's presence and the fact that he may be soon bringing home a wife, thinks that he will lose face in front of his future spouse's family and convinces a talented blind carpenter, to take on Mohammad as an apprentice.

Mohammad bonds with the carpenter and tells him that he was once told that to see god he would have to feel him with his fingertips. Just as Mohammad gets settled in with the carpenter and starts to learn the trade his father returns to take Mohammad home after the death of his grandmother.

On the way home, during a  violent storm and torrential downpour the father maliciously toys with the idea of getting rid of his son once and for all in the storm. 

The beautiful country of Iran is shown in a full wonderful colour, truly a paradise, in contrast to other Iranian films where the barren landscapes and the brutal nature of the country's weather is shown as a fully rounded character of the film. Here the full character is being shown in the beauty of the blossom, but still often hostile countryside.

This is one of the most moving films I have ever seen it is truly magical.  There are striking colourful, painterly, emotional, and beauty parallels between this and Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro (1999).  Two films about young boy's struggles through loneliness and disappointments with adults, who in varying degrees help or hinder their existence.

The commitment of the actors is amazing and is shown to be so when there is a terrible flood.   I cannot remember having seen such commitment as this in a film in a long time, especially not in western films.

Iranian cinema is one of the most beautiful and challenging areas of cinema.  Rarely being seen by larger proportions of western audiences.  There is a wealth of humanity, beauty, warmth, ideas, simplicity, comedy and pure genius waiting to be absorbed in these films.

It is certainly an area that should be explored by anybody serious about movies of quality.  Each one is an experience that, even though they may not have a lasting impression on the viewer, which by the way most of them will, it is certainly an area that one film from this area of wonderful cinema can make one day of your life truly magical. And as cinema evolved from a Magic Lantern show to the wealth of reach, emotion  and technology it is today, makes you realise that films as beautiful as powerful and as moving as the "Colour of Paradise" are the whole reason why cinema was invented. 

Recommended Iranian films. Two masterpieces by Mohsen Makhmalbaf,  the disturbing, humanistic and funny "The Cyclist"  and the fantastical and unmissable "Once upon a Time, Cinema" Abbas Kiarostami's  wonderful and enchanting, "Where Is the Friends Home? (Where Is My Friends House?)" For anyone that has not seen any Iranian films these three and the "Colour of Paradise" are probably the best place you could start.  Try them out give them a go, you will be pleasantly surprised. Here at Paradise Cinema we try to help with the broadening of your viewing to enhance your cinema experiences wherever possible. Buy  This oustanding movie at Amazon Try these links below for more info on Iranian directors and their movies.   http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/colorofparadise/   http://www.IranianMovies.com/baskets/awardwinner.htm     http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/tasteofcherry/kiarostami.html Censorship of almost every type of media (including cinema) in Iran is high. Please support freedom of speech, click the banner below!!!