IZU - Mise-en-scène analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQhpansqN1k&feature=relmfu

The Color of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda) by Majid Majidi is an Iranian film about a blind boy named Mohammed.  Mohammed is the protagonist, who goes to a school for the blind in Tehran, and he is contrasted sharply with his father, whose values spiral downwards as he seeks to take a wife at the expense of eradicating any indication of having a blind son.

There were so many great sequences to choose from in the film for this mise-en-scène blogpost, but I selected a clip that perfectly contrasts Mohammed to his father—from the beginning of “part 3 of the clip sequence” till 3:12.

The clip opens with a medium close-up shot of Mohammed’s grandmother as Mohammed is giving her a gift.  His love for the women in his family is clearly evident as is his sensitive nature.  The shot cuts from a group shot to a MCU of each relative then to close-up shots of the gift given by Mohammed.  The close-up is done to allow the viewer to see that Mohammed gives thoughtful gifts of beauty though he is blind. Since he is blind, his other senses of touch and hearing are enhanced and this is evidenced throughout the film through enhanced sound effects which allows the viewer to be in the shoes of Mohammed. 

Mohammed is always seeking to decipher the “language” of his environment. The scene where the grandmother and Mohammed are walking towards the tree that he planted the previous year uses the rule of thirds with the placement of the tree. The bond of the grandmother and Mohammed is further elaborated through a wide shot cut of them walking through the farm of planted grains.  As Mohammed asks his grandmother what she planted, the camera cuts to a shot of the grandmother’s hand guiding Mohammed to “see” through the sense of touch, the grains planted. Overall there is a sense of discovery and hope with Mohammed.

From Mohammed there is a cut to a high angle, extreme long shot of Mohammed’s father shaving at a river.  The distance from this character is significant as it translates to the viewer not knowing and/or understanding this complexly flawed, but forgivable character.  While preparing for shaving at the river the shots change from ELS to medium close-up, to extreme close-up.  The extreme close-up coincides with the father hearing an ominous sound and nicking himself with the razor blade.  The sound is only heard by him as evidenced by the juxtaposed shot of the horse that stands calmly by the riverbed.  The ECU of the father’s image in the broken mirror also serves as an omen of negative things to come in the film.