The Color of Paradise (1999)

3/5

Majid Majidi's The Color of Paradise tells the story of a blind boy (Ramezani) who goes home from his special school for the summer. Although Mohammad enjoys talking with his grandmother (Feyzi) and playing with his two sisters (Safari, Sharifi), his father (Mahjoub) wants him to work for a blind carpenter (Fatemi) in the city instead. I had high expectations for the movie going into it, as I had just seen Majidi's previous film Children of Heaven, but nearly everything about this movie let me down. The acting is weak, so weak in fact that it takes away from the story itself. The characters are all whiny and annoying. The plot is uninspired and overly melodramatic. Not only that, it doesn't really go anywhere. Loose ends are left dangling willy-nilly. Technically, the movie was equally disappointing. There were scenes of beauty, both in terms of landscapes and human compassion, but then Majidi goes crazy with slow motion to beat it into your head. The movie isn't a bad one, but I would avoid it unless you already know you're going to be a fan.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0191043/

Children of Heaven (1997)

4/5

Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven tells the touching story of a brother and sister in Iran. Ali (Hashemian) loses his sister's shoes when he buys potatoes for his parents on his way home. Zahra (Seddiqi) is upset, but she knows she cannot tell her parents because they do not have enough money to buy new shoes. In order to make it up to his sister, Ali promises to let her borrow his shoes. But since they both need it for school, they devise a plan to share the sneakers. She wears it for her school in the morning and they switch in the middle of the day so he can wear it for his school. Unfortunately, the timing doesn't quite work out, and Ali gets into trouble for being late to school repeatedly. There is a lot more to the story than that, but I'll let you discover the rest of this crowd-pleasing movie on your own.

To be honest, I didn't think I would enjoy this movie as much as I did, but I found myself smiling time and time again. Much like Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon, the story is filled with scenes of such innocence and warmth. Majidi has done the seemingly impossible task of transporting us into the thoughts and values of these kids: finding the missing shoes is just about the most important thing in the world. I can't remember the last time my heart was pounding this hard watching a bunch of kids run. It is a testament to Majidi's ability to engage an audience and take us on the journey he wants to show us.

The acting is another marvel. The children are better than some adults working in America, and the fact that they chose just about the cutest little girl in the world to play Zahra doesn't hurt either. However, the movie is not perfect. There is this one rather bizarre interlude involving gardening and a young boy wearing pink. I'm sure there is a lot of subtle Iran-specific social commentary that I am missing, but I'm not quite sure why it was in this movie. It feels out of place compared with the rest of the piece. All in all, this is an inspiring and uplifting tale of the lengths to which we will go for our family.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118849/