The Color of Paradise

Reel Whirled Peas

The Color of Paradise is a beautiful movie filmed in 1999 in Iran. It’s the story of a blind child, Mohammed, who leaves his urban school for the blind and returns to his family’s farm near the mountains. His widower father is a coal worker, and the farm is worked by his 2 young sisters and granny.

The opening set of scenes, occurring at the school, show classrooms full of elementary-aged boys, all of them blind, who live and study together under the watchful eye of their kind and generous teacher. The boys physically guide one another, joke around, and work diligently on their Braille lessons. In all respects the scene could be taking place in New York or London. My sheltered and ignorant western perspective was surprised to see such effort made to accommodate these children. I have seen so many news images of special needs children shunted away, neglected by their families, the embarrassing result of some heavenly retribution.

The first indication that this is an Islamic republic comes when the parents arrive to pick the boys up for their 3-month break from school. All of the mothers are wearing black burkhas. But even that is subtle, on screen for just a minute, because this is not a film about living in an Islamic society, but rather a film about hope and loss, disappointment and renewal, themes that transcend geography and culture.

Later, as Mohammed and his father head out through Teheran to catch the bus that will take them on the first part of their journey home, father stops by a couple of local businesses to sell wares: a hand-woven rug in one store, and a silver bracelet in another. You don’t have a sense at this point whether his actions are truly commercial or he’s simply pawning possessions to raise money to go home. Later in the film, when father is addressing the family of a woman he is courting, he mentions that he was recently in Teheran conducting some business, which the prospective in-laws found very impressive.

The scenes involving the courtship were not surprising. The several trips father makes to call on the family always involve gifts, self-promotion, and delicate negotiations. The first time we see him arrive, he was shaven himself and put on his best clothes, and rides to her home on his horse, smiling broadly to show his fine teeth, so caught up in presenting a good image that he fails to see the low-hanging tree branch that knocks him off his steed. On his last visit, where plans are made for the wedding, he presents a dowry, a wad of bills and some jewelry, and his future father-in-law congratulates him. He will be marrying into a more well to do family than his own, and through this entire courtship he has not let on that he has a blind son. He may very well be one of those who see that burden as a curse, and he does not want to risk losing that opportunity. Later, after his mother dies, his prospective in-laws return his dowry, believing that his mother’s death was a sign that the marriage would be cursed. Even in a theocracy, old superstitions die slowly.

The Iraq-Iran War, along with other civil conflicts over the past 30 years left as many as a million widows and betrotheds in Iran. At one point the family tells father of their daughter’s loss of a fiancé, and that father represented their last hope for marrying her off. Throughout their conversations each side seemed to be saying the same thing, want the same result, but each inherently knew that certain protocols and traditions had to be adhered to. And yet, despite all of that, they called off the wedding because granny died.

The other set of scenes that were interesting showed the relative self-sufficiency of the family farm. They grew alfalfa, wheat, and corn, and raised chickens. They had vast fields of colorful flowers nearby, which they picked by the bushel for use in making cloth dyes. Although they did not show how the dyes were used, perhaps father’s sale of the rugs in Teheran was a commercial venture after all. By all indications Mohammed’s family, while not wealthy, seemed relatively comfortable. Despite all he had, however, father was a sad man. He asks his mother why God has made his life so terrible.

But, like so many other things in this film, those doubts are not unique to Iranians. In more ways than it shows our differences, The Color of Paradise shows our similarities.