The Color of Paradise

Mohammad, a boy at Tehran's institute for the blind, waits for his dad to pick him up for summer vacation. While waiting, he realizes a baby bird has fallen from its nest: he chases away a cat, finds the bird, climbs a tree, and puts it back. His father finally comes and takes him to their village where his sisters and granny await. The lad is a loving student of nature and longs for village life with his family, but his father is ashamed of him, wanting to farm the boy out to clear the way for marriage to a woman who knows nothing of this son. Over granny's objections, dad apprentices Mohammad far from home to a blind carpenter. Can anything bring father and son together?



Today I finally had a chance to watch this beautiful Iranian film. The performances were all excellent--especially Hossein Mahjoub as the Father, Salameh Feyzi as Granny and, of course, Mohsen Ramezani as Mohammed, the blind son. The cinematography was beautiful and I also enjoyed the film score by Alireza Kohandairy. I was looking on the Internet Movie Database Site and it said the young boy playing Mohammed is actually blind. I love this quote from the movie: Mohammad: [crying] "Our teacher says that God loves the blind more because they can't see. But I told him if it was so, He would not make us blind so that we can't see Him. He answered "God is not visible. He is everywhere. You can feel Him. You see Him through your fingertips." / Now I reach out everywhere for God till the day my hands touch Him and tell Him everything, even all the secrets in my heart."