30 Second Bottom Line: An eight-year-old blind boy, focuses on his emotional wholeness and intelligence, rather than his physical handicap. His widower father feels sorry for himself, because of life's difficulties while trying to provide the support needed by his son. Good people can do bad, yet not truly evil deeds, that create intense drama surrounding the simple, everyday decisions in life.

Story Line: Mohammad (Mohsen Ramezani) attends a school for the blind in Tehran, and is anxious to go home, like all the other boys, for the summer break. Long after the parents of the other children have come and gone, Mohammad still waits. While waiting, he helps a bird in distress, and in so doing, generates more feeling in the first ten minutes than most films do in two hours. He uses sound, touch, physical agility and intelligence, that tells you what type of person he is.

When Hashem (Hossein Mahjub), the father, arrives, he tells a tale of woe to the school administrators, trying to get them to let Mohammad stay there for the summer. They politely decline, and father and son make the long trip home, far from the city, into the remote countryside.

Mohammad (Mohsen Ramezani is blind in real life), delivers an Oscar caliber performance. His ability to relate to his grandmother, Granny (Salime Feizi), as well as his two sisters, and a blind carpenter, are touching. His sisters welcome him home, and the true joy of being a young child magically comes off of the screen. Mohammad and Granny have a spiritual relationship, and she, unlike the father, sees no harm in him going to the regular local school, which has not let out for the summer. Although Mohammad can perform well, his father sees him as a burden for the rest of his life, and one who could possibly hamper Hashem's approval to marry into upper society.

Hashem is so angry about his mother trying to mainstream Mohammad into the local school, that he takes him to a blind master carpenter and leaves him there as his apprentice assistant. Mohammad knows that he has been abandoned. But we know that he has the spiritual strength to be a better person, in spite of this rejection. This causes a major rift between Hashem and his mother. A resolution of sorts is reached, and on a trip with Mohammad, Hashem once again seems to be intentionally aloof with the care of his son. But this time, a moment of truth is reached. The ending is powerful. Some will cry and others will just look and wonder why people do what they do.

Tell Me More About It: I was surprised to see that Iran is not all desert terrain. As Hashem and Mohammad begin their trip home from the city, we begin to see, in the rural areas, a countryside that looks like Upper Michigan, with heavy forests, paved roads and running streams. In the middle of the story is a geography lesson.

Like Majidi's film, Children of Heaven, this film deals with the values of both the family and the individual. The former deals more with the issues of poverty and family love, while The Color of Paradise speaks to more core values. There are times you can feel what the boy is thinking because you know what the father is thinking. While he will not do anything overt to hurt the boy, he is passive to dangers, somehow hoping, but not saying, that if the boy was to have an accident, it would be Allah's will to determine his fate.

The film is ultimately about love. Two scenes beautifully make the case. First, when Mohammad is left with the carpenter, and then again at the end of the film, when love stands strong. The issue however, is whose love is it? God, the father, the boy, or some combination of this trinity? This is truly a spiritual, family values film. It is interesting to see how our true feelings dictate our actions.

Mohsen Ramezani: Mohammad	Hossein Mahjub: Hashem
Salime Feizi: Granny	Director: Majid Majidi