In 1999, Majid Majidi's fourth feature film, The Colors of Heaven, was released on the heels of his Oscar-nominated film Little Shoes (aka Children of Heaven) . In this film, Machidi once again demonstrated his ability to express some of our profound thinking about life in the language of the film. Like his two previous films, "Father" and "Little Shoes," the relationship between the little boy and his father plays an important role in the narrative. In "Colors of Heaven," however, Machidi goes beyond the immediacy of our everyday life and turns our gaze to transcendence. Of course, we cannot see this transcendence with our eyes, and this is metaphorically shown in the film through the plight of the blind child.
The story is about an 8-year-old blind boy living in a remote village with his widower father, two sisters, and grandmother. Some argue that the father is an antagonist rather than a protagonist, but I disagree - we're equally focused on their two different journeys. The father, a down-and-out, semi-skilled worker raising three young children on his own, is easier for us to understand, so part of the film begins to show us the world of this young boy, Mohammed.
The film opens with a slow rhythm: a black screen and the sound of children recognizing the tapes being played on the tape recorder. Here is the last class before the summer break at a school for the blind in Tehran. Soon all the children were picked up by loving parents, except for one boy, Mohammed, whose father came late. As he waits outside, we gradually see Muhammad's world , a world confined to sound and tentative touch with hands.
Just then, Muhammad's ears perked up, and he seemed to hear something. He walked cautiously to the foot of a nearby tree, looking for something among the dead leaves. It turned out to be a chick that fell from the nest. The boy was very careful and managed to pick up the fledgling, then climbed the tree to find the nest and put the chick back . It's a masterfully crafted shot that reveals Muhammad's relationship to the world around him.
When his father finally came, he told school officials that he was too poor to care for a blind boy and asked if he could stay at the school. School officials told him that was impossible, and it was clear that it would be a key issue for much of the film. The father then took his son back to his village in the Caspian Sea region of Iran. Compared to the desolation and aridity of most of Iran, the woods and wildflowers of the Caspian Sea region have a special appeal to many Iranians. As a result, Iranian audiences may be more aware of Mohammed's inability to see and appreciate the colorful landscapes throughout the film. However, Muhammad's close encounter with the natural world of his village, aided by his close relationship with his two sisters and grandmother, is full of joy and wonder. He wants to learn natural language, just as he learned Braille fluently in school, so that he can continue to participate in the conversations of all natural creatures.
At the same time, the father is trying to carve out a satisfying life for himself in the adult world. He has been single for five years, has a young family to support, and hopes to find another wife for company. But it wasn't easy for him, who was old and poor, and lived in the socially restricted environment of rural Iran. At the same time, he has been complaining about the burden of raising a disabled boy. Finally, a young woman from a nearby village, whose fiancé has recently passed away, is willing to accept him. However, he had to prepare a dowry to get her family's approval and was worried that his disabled son would hinder his chances. Muhammad's grandmother watched the situation with concern. She loves little Muhammad deeply and quietly chides her son for selfishly putting personal desires over family.
However, father is not a bad person and we can feel sorry for him too. For him, life is an endless struggle, and he sees himself as the victim of a hostile world. Sometimes, when he went out alone, he was afraid to hear some wild animals. This vague, menacing voice represents the unknown and evil, lurking in the dark, possibly just around the corner . Worried about his son and his own future, the father decided to give his son to a blind carpenter in a nearby village as an apprentice. He thought the carpenter could give the boy a skill so he could make a living.
Meanwhile, Mohammed, an eager student at a school for the blind, learned that the country school his sisters attended had not closed, and asked them to take him to school with them and got permission. Fortunately, the lessons he took in the school for the blind were the same as those in the village classroom, and Muhammad was an excellent student. He came home excitedly announcing that he had got full marks in school. However, the news only angered Muhammad's father, who still thought the boy had no future in the village, and forcibly took him to the blind carpenter.
The carpenter soon found the boy crying and asked why. The boy said that no one loved him, not even God, and he poured out his grief: " Our teacher said that God loves blind people more because they can't see. I said to him, if that's the case, he won't let us Blind and unable to see him. " The carpenter replied: " God is invisible, he is everywhere, you can feel him. You can see him through your fingertips. "
Back home, Grandma was distraught that Mohammed was being sent away and decided to leave the house despite the heavy rain outside. The father pleaded with her and defended himself: "What have I done wrong to take care of a blind child all my life. Who will take care of me when I am old and feeble? Why doesn't your great God help me out of this misery? ?"
Grandma didn't answer, but it was evidenced by her simple way of life in this world, from her bending over, even in sickness, helping stranded fish back into the river. Her father eventually brought her home, but she now has a cold and will soon die. At the moment of her death, we believe from the changes in her face and light that she saw God and followed God .
Father suffered another devastating setback. The family of the girl he wants to marry has decided to call off the upcoming marriage because of "ominous omens". So he went to the carpenter and decided to take Muhammad home. On his way home, he crossed a wooden bridge that collapsed and Mohammed fell into a rushing creek, which was quickly swept away. Father ran to help and jumped into the river, but the swirling water was too turbulent for him to do anything. He ended up in a coma and was sent to a calmer bank at the mouth of the Caspian Sea. When he regained consciousness, he looked around and saw the figure of Muhammad lying on the shore in the distance.
He rushed over and found that the boy was dead, looking at the boy in his arms he couldn't help crying. A flock of wild birds flew overhead, and the mystery of the lives of others continued. In the final shot, the camera moves from above to a close-up of Muhammad's hand, showing his fingertips illuminated by the same eerie light as when his grandmother died, and moved slightly. Muhammad was taken away by God.
This is a religious movie, but not a traditional religious movie. None of the people alive in the movie are enlightened, at least in this world. Perhaps, the father is now aware of his lost treasure. The only thing we have in this world is the joy of participating in life, no matter what circumstances we are in. Both Muhammad and Aziz are people who naively engage in world affairs in this way, and perhaps they are the ones who gain the most, even in this secular world. Mohammed spent a lot of time trying to "decipher" the stones on the beach as if they were coded in Braille. When we reflect on the hopeless absurdity of his efforts, we realize that we ourselves are equally blind in trying to decipher the meaning of the world through our tools and the power of analysis.
"Colors of Heaven" became an influential film in large part because of the idyllic landscape of Muhammad's attempt to discover the wonders of the world around him . In stark contrast to the arduous struggle of his father as a construction worker, he was engaged in the tedious and laborious work that was set up within the strict constraints of the economy and society, which he had to do in order to make a living. these work. Professional actor Hussein Mahjub played the role of father well.
In many ways, the greatness of "Colors of Heaven" lies in its emphasis on this painful moment itself. The revelation of this moment is not just a lesson learned, like, “It should have been earlier, but it is too late.” More importantly, it is the pain of that moment that makes us more sensitive to the world around us. Essentially, this revelation is even more convincing and touching.
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