The Color of Paradise (1999) Rang-e khoda (original title)

Director:

Majid Majidi

Writer:

Majid Majidi (writer)

Release Date:

7 September 2000 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Plot:

Mohammad, a boy at Tehran's institute for the blind, waits for his dad to pick him up for summer vacation...

Plot Keywords:

Village | Boy | School | Apprentice | Carpenter

Awards:

13 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Hossein Mahjoub	...	Father
Mohsen Ramezani	...	Mohammad
Salameh Feyzi	...	Grandma
Farahnaz Safari	...	Big Sister
Elham Sharifi	...	Little Sister
Behzad Rafi	...	Village Teacher
Mohamad Rahmani	...	Schoolteacher
Morteza Fatemi	...	Carpenter
Kamal Mirkarimi	...	Schoolmaster
Masoome Zinati	...	Young woman
Zahra Mizani	...	Schoolteacher
Ahmed Aminian	...	Young Wife's Father
Moghadam Behboodi	...	Village Headmaster
GanAli Khorami	...	Villager

Directed by
Majid Majidi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Majid Majidi		writer

Produced by
Mehdi Karimi	....	producer
Ali Ghaem Maghami	....	producer
Mehdi Mahabadi	....	producer
Mohsen Sarab	....	producer

Original Music by
Alireza Kohandairy

Cinematography by
Mohammad Davudi

Film Editing by
Hassan Hassandoost

Production Design by
Masood Madadi
Asghar Nezhadimani

Makeup Department
Mohsen Mossavi	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Ghaemmaghami Ali	....	production manager
Ali Kalij	....	production manager
Mohamad Karimi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Javad Kasehsaz	....	assistant director
Behzad Rafi	....	assistant director
Ali Sabzevari	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Mohammad Reza Delpak	....	sound designer
Houra Maleki	....	sound edit
Yadollah Najafi	....	sound recordist
Reza Narimizadeh	....	sound edit

Special Effects by
Majid Soleimani	....	special effects
Reza Torkaman	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Hashem Attar	....	still photographer

Production Companies

• Varahonar Company

Distributors

• EDKO Film (2000) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Eurocine (2001) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Mars Distribution (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2000) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Amuse Video
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Irfan Film (2009) (Turkey) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Rang-e khoda" - Iran (original title)
"The Color of God" - USA (review title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian | Azerbaijani

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:G (alternate rating) | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Hong Kong:I | Spain:T | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Malaysia:U | Singapore:PG

Company:

Varahonar Company

Trivia:

Selected as Iran's submission in the Best Foreign Film category for the 2000 Oscars.

Quotes:

Mohammad:[crying] Our teacher says that God loves the blind more because they can't see. But I told him if it was so, He would not make us blind so that we can't see Him. He answered "God is not visible. He is everywhere. You can feel Him. You see Him through your fingertips." / Now I reach out everywhere for God till the day my hands touch Him and tell Him everything, even all the secrets in my heart.

Standing ovation

This film received a rare standing ovation at the New York Film Festival. People were overwhelmed.

It is called "Color of Heaven" and it focuses on a blind boy. The boy is loved by all in his family, but his father has had a tormented life filled with grief. He feels that caring for a blind boy will ruin his chances for a good second marriage, and for a family to care for him when he gets old. So, despite the attachment of others in his family to the boy, he tries to keep the boy permanently at a school of the blind, and then in a woodworking apprenticeship.

The sensual vibrant color images in the film--almost surreally technicolor--illustrate the boy's sense of the world. You become fully sympathetic to the boy, cry with him, long to be loved with him. The camera is totally inside the boy's sensibility. It is a luxuriant and fully satisfying journey to an unknown place.