Unconditional love is something children often take for granted and are blessed with when it comes to parents. It’s a feeling that makes a child feel protected, secure and most importantly “loved” no matter what. Similarly, for most parents, their child is plausibly their most precious gift from God.
But then unfortunately there are exceptions, sometimes love can be “conditional” and the child for no fault of his/ hers becomes a burden.and when that happens its perhaps the child that suffers the most because feeling ‘undesired’ by one’s own parents is perhaps the worst feeling a child could have.
In his follow up to his classic “Children of Heaven”, director Majid Majidi once again takes us into the beautiful, innocent world of a child. Though he is born blind, Mohammed, a little eight year old boy can “see” through his mind’s eye, and to him the world around him is beautiful, colorful and full of vigor.
From the very first scene, Majidi draws us into the world of Mohammed(Mohsen Ramezani).
-Its the last day of classes before summer vacation starts, and all the kids in the special blind school, are looking forward to go home to their families. By evening, all kids have been picked up by their families.
All, except Mohammed. He innocently asks his teacher: “Why has my dad not yet come”, the teacher cajoles him “I just spoke with him, he said he’ll be here soon”.
When the father does arrive, he looks disgruntled and watches his son from a distance while the poor blind kid is completely unaware of his father’s presence.
Its the next scene, which perhaps jolts the audience when the father is seen pleading with the school authorities: “I don’t want to take my son home with me”, “Please, I request you to keep him here for the summer”, “There is no one to take care of him at home”, “I don’t want him to come with me. ”
When refused by the school authorities, he unwillingly takes his son with him and thus begins Mohammed’s journey back to his hometown where his loving grandmother and sisters await him. Its a voyage through the streets of Tehran, on a bus, and then on a mule to the beautiful country side of Northern Iran, where flowers of every color abound, the birds sing and even the flow of water sounds like music. This is Mohammed’s home – its his little world.and director Majidi takes us deep inside it.and how.
“The Color of Paradise” to me is a mesmerizing film, not just for the simplistic story line(which is Majidi’s trademark), and great performances, but also for breathtakingly beautiful cinematography with wonderful choice of color palettes.
The director has shot every sequence with daintiness. The mountains, the flowers, the rivers and trees- in short: NATURE feels so real and majestic. Every scene has perfect sound design; whether its the tweet of the birds or the pecking of the woodpecker, its haunting yet uncannily melodious. In fact, the execution of some of the scenes reminded me of legendry director Akira Kurosawa’s brilliant visuals from “Rhapsody in August” and “Throne of Blood”. The use of symbolism through thunderstorms, fog, bright sunlight and raging river waters could not have been more appropriate.
It is said that “acting” and “emoting” are all in the “eyes”. But how does one convey emotions if the main protagonist is blind? - Majidi has deftly used ‘the palm’ of the little boy’s hands to convey his elation or his agony through some very intelligently shot close-up sequences of the palm of his hands, and the movement of fingers to point out his feelings. Little Ramezani is blind in real lifeas well. This was his first film, but Majidi has extracted a brilliant performance from him. Directing a blind actor would certainly be tough job, but then Majidi is no ordinary director, and hence no surprise that he has accomplished the task so well.
There are some scenes that are enthralling: I can’t help but mention some of these:
While Mohammed is waiting for his dad, he hears the tweet of a bird, in the campus gardens. He rumages through a pile of leaves and finds a tiny little bird, which had fallen off its nest. He cautiously picks it up, and by carefully analyzing the sounds around him, he finds the tree, and puts the little birdie back to its nest. This scene is very pertinent, and occurs toward the beginning of the film, giving the audience an idea about the boy’s gentle character, and his love for nature. I have never seen such a dexterously shot scene before. Its absolutely beautiful!
The scene where Mohammed speaks with his loving grandmother about God, and asks what God looks like, and regrets being blind as he can’t see God. When he is told that God is invisible, and is felt in everything around, Mohammed smiles, and walks around the beautiful landscape and feels the leaves, and flowers around him and hears the sounds of nature.to him that is his connection to God.
When he finally realizes that his dad does not want him around, he has an agonizing flare-up with another blind person to whom he says “Nobody loves me, because I can’t see” and the conversation that follows is heart wrenching.
Although the movie maintains a relatively slow pace, every moment is enchanting. The writing is brilliant and there are scenes where the audience is suddenly taken by surprise, particularly in the climax which is shot brilliantly, and the ending is kept somewhat ambiguous on purpose.
The director stops short of portraying the father’s character as a complete villain. His outbursts, his pain and disappointment have also been portrayed very well. The father’s character is a powerful metaphor, I would think. Often times, we don’t “SEE” things around us or are short sighted and make harsh decisions, which we may end up regretting. The movie is a complex comparison of the world of a father, who can technically “SEE”, yet cannot feel the colors and the beauty of the world around him, because he is so bogged down with his frustrations and desires, while his blind son, whose world is dark, yet he is someone who can feel the colors and the beauty of the world around him.
Among the cast – Salameh Fayezi as the loving grandmother and Hossein Mahjoub as the father have given power packed performances as well. Farhanaz Shafari and Elham Sharifi as Mohammed’s sisters are adorable.
THE COLOR OF PARADISE has won numerous awards internationally. It is a poignant film, and has a certain spiritual feel to it. It stays with you for a long long time.No matter what part of the world you are from, whatever language you speak or religion you follow.Its a must see for cinema lovers across the globe – The movie is aptly titled “Rang E Khoda” in Farsi. Its a reminder as to why "cinema" has universal appeal!
