Paulina Palero 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.

Python Hyena 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

leoperu I feel quite happy joining the teary-eyed crowd of viewers from New York to Bangladesh who were emotionally overwhelmed by "Rang-e khoda". To try and turn a theme which is in itself heartbreaking into a strong and worthy piece of art is of course a risky business. Although I find other Iranian directors (let's say Mehrjui, Kiarostami, Panahi, Ghobadi) more interesting, I believe that Majidi is a gifted artist who perfectly knows how to make the most out of balancing on the brink of mawkish sentiment/pathos. His movies - i.e. the four I have seen - evidently look up to Italian neo-realism (there are even concrete points of contact between "Rang-e khoda" and "Ladri di biciclette", among others), oscillating between a sociological/ethnographic study, sociocritical statement, tearjerking melodrama, religious/spiritual fable and pure fairy-tale. For some (re)viewers, such an amalgam may be too much to bear (not only the otherwise outstanding sequence when Mohammad rescues a baby bird raises doubts about its credibility), but thanks to the director's cinematic treatment it offers moments where it reaches almost Chaplinesque quality.I don't feel an urge to comment on "Rang-e khoda"'s beautiful cinematography, flawless acting, rich soundscape, or sometimes spoonfeeding symbolism - others have done it before, and better. My last small remark concerns the annoying sound that structures the second half of the movie like an ominous refrain. One reviewer suggests it's wolves ; to me, it seems rather like a cry of some bird (a wild turkey, perhaps ??) regarded by the locals as a sign of ill luck.As to the quality of the Sony's disc, it's way better than the British and German ones (both with AR cut to 4:3 !).

nikhil mehra one of the best Persian movies I have watched...I have seen a no. of them, but most of them are gloomy and show the harsh picture of life...but this one was really different...it actually showed the a different picture...the innocence...the feelings that the blind boy had... I really liked were that of the boy helping the bird to get to the nest, it showed his determination, not afraid of climbing the tree... but on the same time, showing his loneliness, waiting for his father...and fearing that he might not come... loved it...truly breathtaking... 10/10 to the director, who is also the writer of the movie...beautiful thoughts...