The Color of Paradise

The Color of Paradise
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Majid Majidi
Written by	Majid Majidi
Starring	Hossein Mahjoub Mohsen Ramezani Salameh Feyzi Farahnaz Safari
Music by	Alireza Kohandairy
Cinematography	Mohammad Davudi
Edited by	Hassan Hassandoost
Production company	Varahonar Company
Distributed by	USA Sony Pictures Classics, Columbia TriStar Iran Varahonar Company
Release date	February 9, 1999
Running time	90 min
Country	Iran
Language	Persian

The Color of Paradise (Persian: رنگ خدا, Rang-e Khodā, literally The Color of God), is a 1999 Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi.

The story revolves around a blind boy named Mohammed who is released from his special school in Tehran for summer vacation. His father, shamed and burdened by Mohammed's blindness, arrives late to pick him up and then tries to convince the headmaster to keep Mohammed over the summer. The headmaster refuses, so Mohammed's father eventually takes him home.

Mohammed's father, who is a widower, now wants to marry a local girl and is preparing for the wedding. He approaches the girl's parents with gifts and they give him approval. He tries to hide the fact that he has a blind son because he fears the girl's family will see that as a bad omen.

Meanwhile, Mohammed happily roams around the beautiful hills of his village with his sisters. He touches and feels the nature around him, counting the sounds of animals, and imitating them. He displays a unique attitude towards nature, and seems to understand its rhythms and textures as a language. Mohammed goes to the local school with his sisters and reads the lessons from his textbook in Braille, which amazes the children and the teacher.

Fearing his bride-to-be's family will learn of Mohammed, his father takes him away and leaves him with a blind carpenter who agrees to make him an apprentice. The blind carpenter mentors the boy, who wants to see God. Mohammad says God does not love him and thus made him blind and tells him about how his teacher told him that God loves them more as they are blind, but then asks why God should make him blind if he loves him more. He also tells him that he wanted to be able to see God, to which his teacher had said that God is everywhere and that you can also feel God. The carpenter then just says that he agrees with his teacher and walks away, possibly affected by the boy's words, as he himself is blind.

Mohammed's grandmother is heartbroken when she realizes that Hashem (Mohammed's father) has given him away to a blind carpenter and she falls ill. She leaves the family home but Hashem tries to convince her to stay back, questioning his destiny, wondering why he lost his father as a young boy, asking why God has taken away his wife and cursed him with a blind boy, and asking his mother what she did for him. Mohammed's grandmother faints on her way so Hashem carries her back home. Eventually Mohammed's grandmother dies. The bride's family sees this as a bad omen and the wedding is called off.