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Blind Major 
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TITLE |
Color of Paradise, The (1999) |
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ALT__TITLE |
1.Ranghe
Khoda 2. Color Of God |
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NOTES |
A blind 8
year old boy lives at an institution for the blind in
Teheran. He, Mohammad, is played by the blind Mohsen
Ramezani.
At the time of the summer holidays all the children leave with
their parents except for Mohammad. Then his father a
widowed coal worker turns up but he asks the carers to keep
his son permanently. They refuse and he has to take his son
home to northern Iran.
At home while the father is resentful of having a blind son the
boy's sisters and Grandmother love to have him around. However the
father wants to remarry and sees the boy as an obstacle so he sends
him away to be apprentice to a blind carpenter.
Initially Mohammad is distressed at leaving home as is his
Grandmother but he comes to like being with the carpenter.
Added later:
The film starts with the break-up of a school for the blind for a
3 month summer break. Rahmin's (a pupil) father hasn't
come for him (his mother is dead). While waiting Rahmin finds a bird
fallen from the nest and climbs the tree to put it back. Compare that
with driving a car. His father eventually turns up but doesn't want to
take him. Forced to by the school admin he takes Rahmin by bus
and horse to his Grandmother's.
Rahmin has gifts for his Grandmother and two sisters. While his
father courts with gifts a woman before even bothering to see his
mother and daughters (in fact I don't think we ever see him with his
daughters).
When Rahmin's two sisters go to school he cries because he
wants to go with them. At school he reads from his braille
book which is the same as their text book. Everyone including the
teacher is in awe.
But the big bad wolf of a Dad takes Rahmin away to the
seaside then to a place he is making charcoal. Later he leaves him to
be apprentice to a blind carpenter.
When the father returns home his mother leaves the house. He persuades
her to return but shortly after she dies. He is just about to get
married but the bride's family call it off because his mother's death
is too ominous.
Father takes Rahmin home and on the way they are caught in a storm and
Rahmin falls off a bridge into a river. Dad
hesitates then desperately tries to save him. It appears Rahmin is
dead but then a hand moves and the film ends.
The film has a natural, unhurried pace. A rural idyll which will
have you in tears.
Cynthia writes:
I saw a wonderful film not long ago that should be on your list.
The Color of Paradise directed by Iranian Majid Majidi. It is a
beautiful film about a blind boy (played wonderfully by a blind boy)
whose widowed father is ambivalent about the child. The father does
not want to take the boy home from blind school for the summer, yet
when he does, we see how much the boy is loved by his grandmother and
sisters. And how much Mohammend loves being with his family. I can't
do justice to the film in words. It must be seen (and heard) to be
appreciated.
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Notes
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