Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
The film's climax involves a father and son reunion that is tense, tragic and, finally, as transcendent as Mohammad himself.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Iran · 1999
Rated PG · 1h 30m
Director Majid Majidi
Starring Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari
Genre Drama, Family
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Mohammad is a young boy who is blind. He enjoys going to school and is thoroughly loved and looked after by his teachers, grandmother and sisters. Hashem, his widowed father, feels that having a son who is blind will devalue his chances to find a new wife. When school is out for the summer, will father and son find middle ground?
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
The film's climax involves a father and son reunion that is tense, tragic and, finally, as transcendent as Mohammad himself.
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
Leans a bit too much toward the lachrymose and has a wrong-note final image.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
Another perfect little gem from Iran in which the simplest story unleashes a torrent of emotion.
Dallas Observer by Jean Oppenheimer
A beautiful film from Iran explores beauty both physical and spiritual.
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
Doesn't have the emotional heft of his "Children of Paradise," but it's still moving.
The surprisingly tragic climax may make it rough going for kids too young to grasp the film's comforting message.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
As worthy and moving as The Color of Paradise is, it is not entirely free of the manipulative, the arbitrary and the downright punitive.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
While never slow, the film feels quiet and spacious, like a prayer.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
The simplicity and idealism of The Color of Paradise are part of what makes it so attractive to near-jaded palates here. There are no evil characters in the film.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
A family film that shames the facile commercialism of a product like "Pokemon" and its value system based on power and greed.It is made with delicacy and beauty.
There's no such thing as a free ride.
In 2003 at the Iraqi-Turkish border, Kurdish refugees await invasion by American soldiers.
What you see does not exist. What you cannot see is truth.
An out-of-work cellist unknowingly accepts a job offer to prepare dead bodies for their funerals.
A brother and sister swap one worn pair of shoes to avoid burdening their already struggling parents.
A middle-aged man, Mr. Badii, seeks someone to bury him after he commits suicide.
A woman vanishes during a vacation with friends, causing them to blame each other for the disappearance.
An unlikely kinship is found between two workers on a building site in Tehran.
Karim motorbikes into the incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence thrill and challenge him.