Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The Color of Paradise: "I am not worried about him, I am worried about you"

Rang-e Khoda or The Color of Paradise, an Iranian movie written and directed by Majid Majidi, deserves to be complemented for its subtle handling of a subject that is routinely over-dramatized and decked with clichés. The story revolves around Mohammed, a young boy of about 6-7 years of age, who is blind. While the relationship between the child and his father forms the crux of the movie, the film is beautifully woven with Mohammed's interactions with his teacher, sisters, and grandmother.

The story in brief goes like this: Mohammed's widowed father wants to marry again, but feels that his son's presence would kill his chances. In addition, he is miserable about the misfortune of having a child with a disability, blames God for being unfair, and does not know what he's done to deserve the fate of having to look after "you-know-what." Hence, he wants to send his son away - anywhere...maybe he can just stay on at his boarding school, or learn carpentry from a carpenter who is also blind,...or well maybe the wild animals in the jungle might just eat him up! The ongoing tussle between his frustrations, Mohammed's desire to be just like his sisters, and a loving and supportive grandmother who cannot do away her son's will lead the story onto its (slightly overdone...but making a great point) climax.

I want to complement this movie for a number of factors that make some excellent points in a subtle and non-melodramatic way.

The first reason to praise Majidi is that he gave the part of Mohammed, to Mohsen Ramezani, who is actually blind. He does not resort to getting a great child star who can play blind...but a young and inexperienced kid who does a fantastic job. As an actor, he gives us Mohammed, his anxiety that his father has not come to pick him up at school, his determination to put the little baby bird back into its nest, his great happiness at being back with his sisters and grandmother (not to miss giving them gifts from the city), his pleading to go to the same school as his sisters, and his eagerness to recite his Brailled lessons at the village's mainstream school...all played out very naturally. His emotional breakdown when he feels that no-one wants him, is again natural and drives straight to the heart.

Majidi gives us some brilliant moments. Waiting for his father to pick him up at school, Mohammed drops his toy phone...seeing him feel for it on the ground, his teacher does not pick it up for him but encourages him to look for it saying, "just feel around a little bit, you will find it" and patiently watches Mohammed methodically search for it and find it quickly. At no point does the scene depict Mohammed's helplessless, rather his resourcefulness (And I can just imagine a Hindi movie milking such a scene for all its worth). However his watching father perceives it differently...

His grandmother teaches him to distinguish between the different plants and crops on their farm through the sense of touch. This grandmother is a pillar of love and understanding for her little grandson...who does not see him differently from her other grandchildren. She encourages Mohammed to study and dream big. When Mohammed gets upset about being left at home as his sisters go to school, she goes and arranges with the village school to have Mohammed join his sister's class. A spirited Mohammed opens his Brailled text and is encouraged by the teacher to read the chapter aloud for the class. Clearly, the father is displeased seeing "his son's disability paraded in front of the other kids."

Through other such situations, Majidi contrasts what Mohammed thinks, feels, wishes, and relishes with what his father perceives those to be. The real plot of the story is how the father can systemically destroy everything his son cares for because of his perception of disability, his assumption about his re-marriageability, his fear of the burden that has been hoisted upon him, and his complete inability to understand why his son should be included in his family and surroundings. The grandmother's steadfast zeal to protect her grandson from her son's fallacies is underlined by her actual inability as an elderly woman to do so.

After Mohammed is taken away to the carpenter's place, without her knowledge, she sets out to get him back herself, but the journey is too tedious for her age and she falls ill. As her son nurses her, he asks the quiet and depressed woman, "Do you want me to get him back? Should I get him back tomorrow? Are you worried about him?" she answers quietly, "I am not worried about him, I am worried about you."

This line symbolizes the message of the movie. It is not a person's disability that holds him/her back, it is others' perception of their abilities that does the real damage. Mohammed's father is too immersed in pitying his own luck, bemoaning his ill fate, cursing what God has done to him, and questioning the need to continue supporting a "disabled child" to value and appreciate his son, his dreams, his capabilities, and his achievements. In the very end, when his son needs him the most, he does display a father's readiness to protect his child from any harm...but a few seconds too late.

Majidi does not caricature the father as an evil demon, which situates the film in reality. He represents a sample set of families who do think like this. Is it a lack of awareness or a lack of resources? Selfishness or ignorance? Poverty or greed? Maybe a mixture of it all.

Check out the movie, and watch for those minute details that nonetheless talk big about inclusion, diversity, and accommodations.