Use of Color in the Film 'The Color of Paradise'
The film Color of Paradise, directed by Majid Majidi and released in 1999, is an excellent exhibition of acting and use of color. In this film the main character, Mohammad, is a young blind boy who moves back home from a school for the blind. His Father does not wish to bring him home because he wishes to marry a woman and is afraid her knowing he has a blind son will make her think he is unfit for her. This film deals heavily on the theme of redemption and learning your lesson. Mohammad often deals with losing his hopefulness when it comes to his father and his ability to live a somewhat normal life. Father in the end learns to appreciate what he has in his life, no matter how little he may think he has.
In the Muslim culture the color orange often symbolizes knowledge and when the characters are supposed to be learning a lesson the screen is usually filled with the color. In one particular scene, when Mohammad is left at a blind carpenter's home to apprentice Mohammad learns he can not truly trust his father, and in the background there are several large patches of orange flowers. When both Grandma and Mohammad die in separate times in the film they are covered in a bright orange light, representing their new knowledge of God. This is yet another use of color.
Another use of color is when Grandma decides to leave Father and live somewhere else because she can not accept what he has done to Mohammad. In this scene she is walking down the dirt road away from the house. The fields in the background which used to be filled with wildflowers are now monochromatic and the whole scene simply has the feeling of emptiness to it. This same use of saturated colors is used when Grandma first realizes Father has taken Mohammad away. Color of Paradise was an excellent film to show the use of color as a way to enhance story on screen.