Pluskylang Great Film overall

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

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.

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain A strong, moving tale of beauty and faith. Ramezani (blind in real life) plays a blind boy returning home for the summer from his school for the blind. He is considered a burden by his father, whom pities himself more than his son. The message of the film is one against self-pity. Mohammad finds beauty everywhere he goes, and it is captured in every frame. Seeing him find a bird fallen from its nest and returning it is a lengthy, simple, but captivating scene. Once he returns home, Mohammad reunites with his sisters and Grandmother. They all treat Mohammad as an equal, and use his "disability" to experience the world in new ways. It's difficult to capture the struggles of the blind in a visual medium, so looking at the unique feelings is a much more appropriate way of handling the subject. He amazes a teacher by reading with braille, he focuses on the sounds of birds, and he holds his breath as he hears the waves about to crash over his feet. Mahjoob plays the father well, but his self-pity becomes a chore for the viewer. He isn't cruel in an evil sense, just too whiny to really connect with. The sound department do a great job at singling out specific sounds as Mohammad analyses the world around him. Simple and powerful, The Color of Paradise shows true emotion through its unrivaled photography of the Iranian countryside.

Shahadat Khan Although I've always known that the film is one of the strongest mediums of art, but I've never been deeply satisfied with any of the films I have ever watched. I've watched Bergman, I've watched Kurosawa. And they are really good. But still, for so long I have been waiting for a film that is truly satisfying to me with its touching sensitivity and deep insight. Finally I have found this film: The Color of Paradise (In fact, the original name is Rang-e-Khoda, The Color of God). A lot of symbols have been used masterfully and with simplicity, the outer has subtly expressed the inner and a profound truth has been depicted so artistically and heartily. The scenarios are very beautiful and the story seems so natural. I am deeply touched. And I am sure, this film will satisfy your heart and head at the same time.

Tender-Flesh First off, I have to heartily disagree with a certain goof of a "professional" critic who has two cats and lives the life of a lonely loser when he ripped this film apart only to say its contrived plot was saved at the end by a single shot. Stuff and nonsense. Any lover of great cinema needs to see this movie.A blind boy named Mohammed awaits the arrival of his father when his school closes for a three month break. Mohammed is the last child to leave and he silently worries that his father will never arrive. When the man finally does, we learn that he feels he can no longer take care of his son due to the handicap. Feeling put-upon by his son's needs, the father tries in vain to think of ways to unload his son on someone else so he will be free to take a new bride. Father has been courting a new woman since his own wife died five years ago and he's only had the help of his own aging mother and his two young daughters to assist with Mohammed's upbringing. There are several days when Father must take Mohammed with him to work, leaving the boy to sit in the woods or by the beach while he toils at a variety of manual labor jobs. Several instances show Father hoping that his son will just wander off and disappear and he won't have to deal with him any longer. There are audible cues whenever the looming spectre of Father's selfishness rise to the surface: while Mohammed hears the piping and warble of a beautiful bird, Father hears the disjointed grumblings of some unknown animal who he obviously fears. Finally, Father takes Mohammed to see a blind carpenter in hopes the man will take the boy as an apprentice, allowing Father to remarry and not have to worry about raising a handicapped son. Though Mohammed cannot see, he is very intelligent and even excels at reading at "normal school," surpassing some of the students who have no disabilities. His father does not know this and forbids him to return to his sisters' school. While at the home of the carpenter, Mohammed cries and sulks, believing no one, not even his grandmother, loves him anymore since he's been abandoned. He even believes God has abandoned him.It would be criminal to give away the ending, so you'll just have to watch for yourself, and I believe you'll be glad you gave this film some of your time. It will give you a tangible respect for people living in a sightless world, not only by showing you the world through Mohammed's eyes/hands, but also by the excellent cinematography, a feast for all eyes. Mr. Lonely Living With Cats needs to re-watch this film, perhaps several times until he gets it right.