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.

To say that is a great movie about the sensitivity and ability to overcome a blind child is little. This film is a profound religious reflection, talks about how we are able to experience the presence of God in our lives and how our daily actions bring us closer or away from the well. We must pay close attention to the sound of birds in many scenes, the sounds he hears the protagonist and listening to his father. You also have to see how the weather changes as the story progresses ... and much more! Because it seems to be a very simple movie but it is quite the contrary, is full of signs that we may look and move us in the depths of human nature, our relationships and God.

The Color of Paradise (1999): Dir: Majid Majidi / Cast: Moshen Ranmezani, Hossein Mahjub, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari, Elham Sharifi: Beautiful foreign film that makes enquiries about God's existence. Title actually asks what colour God is? Set in Tehran where a little blind boy awaits to be picked up by his father at his special school. His father is widowed and lives with his mother on a farm and makes wages working the coal mines. He ponders the idea of abandoning his son because he fears that his son's condition will interfere with his upcoming wedding plans. Very powerful with a two way ending that can indicate God's power to punish or to show mercy. The ending can be translated to viewers either way and neither are necessarily wrong. Director Majid Majidi previously made Children of Heaven with similar themes. Strong performances by Moshen Ranmezani who lives life by feel and scent. Hossein Mahjub is convicting as his father who brings on his own trials in his quest to perfect his lifestyle. His mother loves her grandchild despite his limitations, and his driven to health issues upon the news that her son gave him away. Then there is the family her son attempts to wed into before facts surface. It all comes down to responsibility and owning up to your own choices in life. It shows how God can use trials to shape our lives to better creations. Score: 10 / 10

I have been watching a lot of Iranian films lately and the standard is uniformly high, and The Color of Paradise is yet another really good film to add to the list. There is some beautiful cinematography, some of it so simplistic but all the more beautiful for that reason. The acting from the young blind boy is fantastic, and the film has plenty of sad, emotional scenes which will have your eyes tearing up.On the down side, there is not really much of a story, this doesn't harm the film but equally does not do it any favours either. I also found that there is a bit too much tragedy and sadness in the film, and it cast a bit too much of a shadow over the beautiful scenery and nature shots.I've seen that a lot of people have claimed this film is a masterpiece and I can't help wondering if they have little or no experience of Iranian cinema, and so watched this film not knowing what to expect and found a beautiful film, then overreacted slightly with their reviews. It is well worth watching in my opinion, but it is not Majidi's finest work (that honour goes to The Willow Tree)and is not really any better than his other films.