| COLOR OF PARADISE Director: Majid Majidi "Basically, culture and art are based on common characteristics between people. No matter what country or culture you're from, you always believe in friendship, you always believe in human values, and you always believe in peace. These are the basic values that everybody believes in, and we can demonstrate those values and have them permeate through cultural and artistic manifestations." Majid Majidi in an interview from The Onion Over the past ten years some of the most profound films in the world have been made in Iran. Many of the films -- comparable to the Italian neo-realism films of the 1950s -- have a simple premise and share a common thread of humanism and use non-professional actors playing parts that are close to their social and financial positions. The Color of Paradise, directed by Majid Majidi, is similar to many of the Iranian films but it is different in execution. Like many of the other films it deals with families who live in poor villages making ends meet, struggling, surviving and getting through life with hope. The way it is different is that unlike many Iranian films -- which are emotionally detached -- this one uses sentiment rather than an intellect to drive the film’s message. The 8-year-old boy (Mohsen Ramezani) in this film is blind and attends a special school, but he is so intelligent that it’s easy to see why he doesn’t like being separated from a regular school. Unfortunately, his father (Hossein Mahjub) is ashamed that he has a blind son and he feels that as he grows older the boy will only be a burden to him and his family. It’s apparent from the beginning that the boy is destined for more. In one of the early scenes the boy hears the cries of a baby bird which has fallen from a tree. Remarkably, he saves the bird by climbing up the branches of a tree and placing it into the bird's nest. The scene clearly shows the boy as being altruistic and more agile than we would expect. But when the father comes to pick his son up he only sees him crouched on the ground looking for his cell phone, which he had dropped only a few feet away while attending to the bird. This scene exemplifies the frustrations of both the boy, who obviously has the potential for greater things, and his father, who only sees his handicap. The relationship between father and son brings a very unsettling quality to the film because the father, who looks like a typical movie villain, always seems as if he is going to do something bad to the boy. One way Majidi represents the dichotomy of the father and son relationship is that he presents the natural world, surrounding both characters, in fairy tale terms. Scenes with the father are darker and sinister while scenes with the boy are brighter and full of the innocuous sounds of birds and water. Director Majidi uses suspense and sentiment to manipulate the audience quite well but sometimes it serves as a distraction from the beauty of the film since it seems pretty obvious that the ending will be grim. Majidi throws in a rather lofty message at the end that may lose some viewers, but no doubt it will make everyone think about what has come before and wonder a little about just what exactly has happened. Majid Majidi’s previous film, Children of Paradise, is currently the most financially successful film from Iran released in the US. This film probably won’t find the same audience but it is definitely worth a look. - Matt Langdon |