Iranian ``Color of God'' a simple delight
FAJR, Iran (Variety) - After his ``Children of Paradise'' became the
first Iranian film nominated for an Academy Award, director Majid Majidi
continues to ride a creative wave with ``The Color of God.''
The beautifully acted and photographed movie won best picture in the
1999 Fajr festival's international competition. Though ostensibly not
religious, the simple, touching tale about a blind boy whose father wants
to get rid of him grabs audiences with the elemental force of a story out
of the Bible or Koran. This should be the big Iranian film of the year
in terms of festival attention and arthouse sales.
Summer vacation has arrived at an institute for blind children in Tehran.
Parents pick up all the kids except one, Mohammad (Mohsen Ramezani), who
waits for his widowed father (Hossein Mahjub), a poor coal worker, with
growing apprehension. Finally, Dad reluctantly turns up to claim the boy
and take him home to the country.
Little in contemporary Iranian cinema, apart perhaps from Makhmalbaf's
``Gabbeh'' and ``The Silence,'' has been preparation for the explosion
of color and joie de vivre that follows. Around the farm where Mohammad
lives with his two little sisters and granny (Salime Feizi) are vast fields
of wildflowers, picked by the children to make bright yarn dyes.
Through Mohammad Davudi's lens, the rolling hills and fields become
a paradise on earth, where the hero's blindness is no handicap. But Mohammad's
morose father wants to remarry, and fears his son is an obstacle.
Clean, swift editing contributes to the film's parable feeling. In addition,
Majidi and his cameraman manage to bring out a sacred quality in the wild
beauty of the forest and sea, and put it in relation to the characters.
Using little dialogue, pic conveys the good and evil in human emotions.
Mohammad ........... Mohsen Ramezani
Father ............. Hossein Mahjub
Grandma ............ Salime Feizi
Little Sister ...... Elham Sharifi
Big Sister ......... Farahnaz Safari
A Varahonar Co. production. (International sales: Varahonar, Tehran.)
Produced by Mehdi Karimi. Directed, written by Majid Majidi. Camera (color),
Mohammad Davudi; editor, Hassan Hassandoost; music, Keyvan Jahanshahi;
production designer, Asghar Nezhadimani; sound, Yadollah Najafi. Reviewed
at Fajr Film Festival (international competition), Iran, Feb. 8, 1999.
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