by Subhanjan Sengupta | Posted on 1st August 2019

This is on two great creations of Majid Majidi – [i] Children of Heaven, and [ii]Color of Paradise.

I am not a movie critique. But from the little that I feel, from the little knowledge and understanding of films that I have developed over time, and from the deep love that I have grown in my heart for movies of many kinds and of all times, I have come to this opinion that these two movies are some of the best that I have ever seen, and are rare treasures.

So simple in style and story, so little complexity, aristocracy, and special effects, but yet such grand creations. These two movies are brilliant art in the simplest style. In the simplest yet one of the most beautiful styles the director has been able to communicate to us what he wants to communicate. Each and every landscape, each and every human action, and each and every moment are shown to us from spectacular photographic angles. Majid Majidi seems to have the right things at the right places in the right time. Even the colour of the houses, the colour of the clothes of the characters, and the sweet smiles of the little girls, match so brilliantly with the beauteous green spread all around in the setting of Color of Paradise, and the ocher-coloured mud houses in Children of Heaven, that they completely mesmerise the viewer. Several detailing like these have been so carefully crafted out that they blend together perfectly to generate a catharsis and aid us to grasp the true meanings of life and living that the tragedies in these two films unfold to us.

One needs to see these movies to understand what I mean.