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

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Watching this film is an out of body experience. I've watched thousands of films from across the world from the likes of Akira Kurosawa to Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kubrick. This film will stick with me forever. It will touch your soul and will life in a different perspective. The acting (particularly Mohsen Ramezani), the cinematography, the hypnotic sounds and scenery are incredible and breathtaking. The power of cinema and art on full display here. This is a must see for everyone. 10/10.

This film has a pretty heavy religious overtone (film begins with a dedication to "Allah") that seems to have been blurred and missed by the American audience who loved it--taken as they were with the sorrowful tale of a sensitive blind boy. It's really the story of Job told in an Islamic setting. The commandment that comes from on high is to acknowledge and submit to your lot in life--in the case of the father: to devote himself to his son and his well-being, despite the heavy burden that that imposes on him. There's also the message that, along life's way, we must always be attentive to the needs of others (as exemplified, in a positive way, by the blind boy's rescue of "animalitos" in distress; and, in a negative way, by the father's lack of attention to the turtle on its back and in distress). And the failure of the father to submit to the lot of Job means that he must suffer God's wrath and further punishment. "God's will be done", as they say. Not a bad message coming from Islam in one sense: One should shoulder one's responsibilities towards others who are needy; but, do we need the threat of divine punishment to recognize this duty we all have to "do the right thing?" After all, a humanist doesn't need to read the Koran to know that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. For my taste, just too easy a play for and manipulation of our feelings with the use of a blind kid.

The Color of Paradise (1999): Dir: Majid Majidi / Cast: Moshen Ranmezani, Hossein Mahjub, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari, Elham Sharifi: Beautiful foreign film that makes enquiries about God's existence. Title actually asks what colour God is? Set in Tehran where a little blind boy awaits to be picked up by his father at his special school. His father is widowed and lives with his mother on a farm and makes wages working the coal mines. He ponders the idea of abandoning his son because he fears that his son's condition will interfere with his upcoming wedding plans. Very powerful with a two way ending that can indicate God's power to punish or to show mercy. The ending can be translated to viewers either way and neither are necessarily wrong. Director Majid Majidi previously made Children of Heaven with similar themes. Strong performances by Moshen Ranmezani who lives life by feel and scent. Hossein Mahjub is convicting as his father who brings on his own trials in his quest to perfect his lifestyle. His mother loves her grandchild despite his limitations, and his driven to health issues upon the news that her son gave him away. Then there is the family her son attempts to wed into before facts surface. It all comes down to responsibility and owning up to your own choices in life. It shows how God can use trials to shape our lives to better creations. Score: 10 / 10

The thing about Majid Majidi's works is that he is able to transform an image through a child's eyes into our world and devastate his audience through heartwarming scenes that I believe has brought tears into the eyes of many people who perceived his films. he delivers these images in such a profound way, my heart warms just for the thought of them. The color of Paradise is a masterpiece. the script is beautiful, the cinematography is OK and the acting is just sheer brilliance! The boy Mohsen Ramezani who played the role of Mohammed has put quite an amazing performance, I believe most of the audience have noticed that. finding these actors was quite difficult for the makers of the film and it is wonderful how they were able to find a boy so good at acting, yet resembling the character in the film that much. however, I dread the fact that the movie had no soundtracks whatsoever! many scenes could have been way better if they contained background music. maybe there was a certain philosophy to it, but if there was it surely didn't get to me.