Blog the Fest: The Willow Tree, a film with great msg and gospel

The Willow Tree
Director: Majid Majidi
Country: Iran

This is really a great film, the best i have seen so far in the fest..
the cinemaography is beautifully shot, lots of imagery, symbols of meanings...
lots to think about
it is based on a true story, about a professor who had been blind since he was 8 by firework sparks..
he had a great family, a caring wife and a loving daughter..
his world is a paradise,
he never complained a bit for his blindness for 35 yrs..

Until one day, he found out there maybe a tumor under his eyes and he had to go to Paris for an operation..
which happens to give his sight back...
Upon his return to Iran, Youssef is overwhelmed by sensations both visual and emotional. Soon he is no longer grateful for all he has been given, but instead begins to see his life as a series of experiences stolen from him by his years of blindness. Turning away from the devotion of his wife, he becomes obsessed with the beauty of a woman he hardly knows..

When Youssef first regains his sight, he saw his own reflections in the window,
just like how a new born baby sees themselves in the mirror..
and Youssef was given a new life, a new chance...
but all he sees is his old aged face, the ugliness of his body..
never give thanks to God whom have give what he wished for all his life...
Youssef only sees what was taken away from him all these years, losing the best years in life...

The film is full of gospel messages..
when Youssef gives his prayer to God, he promised that if he was able to get through this, he will follow his God forever..
When he was given another chance in life by getting his eyesight back, he quickly forgot about his prayer and is obsess with his new desire for women...
What he thought was a paradise when he couldn't see, turns out to be just a brokendown old house that he is living in...
I really like the contast of images between the before/after sight scenes..
It really shows how human are not satifise with what they already have...
and is easily tempted by material things, and bodily desires...

"Have you seen enough yet?
Are your eyes satisfied?"

It is just like God asking if we have been able to get what we want in life..
are we satisified with all the material things, worldly needs that we set our eyes on,
and is blinded by them and do not see what we truly need??

Is your heart satisfy?


When One doesn't appreciates what God gives them, rather it is a special skill, or his mighty love,
if you don't know how to appreciate it..
God will take it back, since you have no use for it..
which also happened to Youssef in the end of the movie...

God also takes back Youssef's eyesight because God loved him,
love him so much that doesn't want Yousset to go on the wrong path again..
to stop him from doing anymore wrong...


Willow Tree in Persian means it is a really weak tree, it sways with the wind wherever the wind blows..
and it symbolizes Youssef's morals as the world blows by him..


The Rain is another symbol being use a lot in the film,
like when Youssef was in Paris for the operation,
he was revived by the rain, and able to see again..
when Youssef is back in Iran and searching for his new path and direction, it is raining in the city again..
Towards the end, when he has lost everything, his mother, his family, his eyesight..
he just runs around the city and was trapped inside a metal fence..
again it is raining really hard, which acted as a means to cleanse his sins away...

I give it a 4.5/5