Colors of Paradise

COLORS of PARADISE
Directed by Majid Majidi
Journey through darkness need not always be a hopeless saga of despair. Neither can it be morbid, dissociated from all the warmth and candour of this earth. Not necessarily, your sense of the world around is lost, if your vision fails you. May be, eyes are just one link to make sense of the surrounding world. But the decoding of these senses happens in your soul. Hence if the soul gets connected with the world around, a wonderful tuning is established. You and world then together can set out to play your own duet. And all the dull and darkness of a hopelessly visionless world gets drowned in the colours and rhythm your heart can sense. It seems that with your eyes open, things you had tried hard to sense, to feel, suddenly appears near to you through your heart amidst darkness. Hence darkness is not necessarily an impairment, but a chosen quality given to you to be closer to your search. May be that’s why the dervishes close their eyes and lose themselves, in a trance which takes them closer to their “god”, one whom they frantically keep on searching. The journey without light in your eyes, but with an enlightened heart is the only way to be one with “him”. Visually sumptuous, Majidi’s Colors of Paradise seem to bring forth this feeling.
Mohammad a 7 year old blind boy is exceptionally gifted in spite of his visual impairment. Mohammad, has a capability of forging a strong relationship with nature. Majidi has flooded the movie with almost aural visuals, to establish Mohammad’s waltz with the nature. Mohammad is sensitive to the natural presence around him. Earlier, in the scene, we find him, gently with immense love and tenderness saving the life of a small baby bird. All throughout though, Mohammad’s cues are through sounds. It seems, as the dervish frantically tries to find “him” amidst everything he sees, Mohammad tries to feel God through everything he cannot see- be it the cooing small birds, or the soft murmur of the breeze passing through his small hands.
The small impoverished village Mohammad comes back during his school vacation hence gets vibrant with sounds and colors. He tries reading everything with his small fingers. Glad to be re-united with his loving sisters and doting grandmother, love-lorn Mohammad seems to be at peace with himself for a short while. His nimble small fingers tireless move through everything. He caresses the eggs softly, then passes on to dis-entangle the threads dyed in the wildflower dipped colors. Throughout these feelings he perceives a sense of meditative peace. Mohammad is happy to be with his surroundings. He senses a feeling of wantedness and security. Being loved and cared for is a deep longing by this motherless boy. That is expressed through the way he gently cuddles and caresses everything that comes across his way, everything he cares for. However, his search to make a sense of the world around, does not stop. This continuous search through his fingers is Mohammad’s only way to reach and get united with his own soul and with “him”, since he had known this at school- a blind is closer to “god” since he can see God through his fingers.
Quite opposed to the calm peace which Mohammad feels within are the feelings of his father. Mohammad’s father a widower is burdened by the responsibility of caring for his two daughters, an age-ing mother and a blind son. He wants to get re-married. And think Mohammad an impediment in his way of new settlement. Throughout Hashem is troubled by the dilemma of being selfish father or choosing a supposedly better life. A poor coal-man, burdened with responsibility, Hashem too is frantically in search of his soul, to get hold of himself. His deep set dark eyes, furrowed face all tell of his tiresome efforts to get recluse in his soul. He sends Mohammad away, in order to get married. Mohammad, now is an apprentice to a blind craftsman of woodwork. Still Hashem does not get rid of his dilemma and guilt. He tries to deal with it by arguing loud with others about his right to be happy, which is extremely ill-tuned and fails to convince even himself.
At work, far away from home, Mohammad is still sensitive to the nature. In fact this time, the mournful boy seems to have set himself in complete harmony with the universe. A small disruption and he is able to sense it. His grandmother’s death therefore unites her with him. Mohammad’s father rejected by the bride’s family, finally decides to bring him back. On the way however Mohammad meets with an accident. His father for the first time, seems to find himself back and plunges into the whirlpool to save Mohammad.
The final scene shows Mohammad, in his father’s lap, his clasped fingers slowly opening the sunlight reflecting trough them. Majidi is an expert when it comes to playing with sunlight. He fins sunlight to be the most important symbol of conveying hope. We donot know of Mohammad’s fate. His death and his small clasp capturing sunlight, might symbolise his one-ness finally with the almighty. Otherwise, his father’s love, also is a beginning of a new hope for him.
This movie is deeply spiritual in nature and speaks of hope. Earlier also we have seen another beautiful, Iranian movie on a blind boy by Mohsen Makhmalbaf- Silence also shows the musical soul of a blind boy, whose sense of the world is through sounds. Colors of Paradise is a similar lyrical yet soulful journey, almost similar to a Sufi mystic’s journey to eternal enlightenment. The mystic throughout his life is in search of the route to get rid of the darkness; whereas Mohammad’s whole life was in the eternal sunshine, amidst this darkness.