'The Weeping Willow' is the closing film at the AFF

Mumbai, Oct 20 (UNI) The eight-day Asian Film Festival, which drew to a close last night, showcased the maverick genuis Majid Majidi's film 'The Weeping Willow'.

As the story goes, Youssef, a blind university professor is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease and must undergo treatment in France. After 38 years of being blind, Youssef regains his sight.

What he then 'sees' is very different from what he 'saw' as a blind man, and not necessarily more rewarding. Majidi takes the viewer to a higher spiritual world and in doing so creates another master-piece.

Majid's movies are visually stunning and have such a profound effect that when one leaves the cinema hall, they begin to see the world in a different light.

Parviz Parastoui is one of the best actors in Iranian cinema and is simply amazing as Youssef. Mahmood Kelari's photography is mind-blowing.

The film's director says, ''A few years ago, I met a middle-aged blind man who had an amazing experience in his life dealing with blindness and sight. As I was talking to him I began to ask myself, What is the differnce between perceptions of beauty and serenity in the real world and the world of the blind. I realised after he talked more about his experience that when a man recovers his sight there is an inevitable conflict between these perceptions.'' ''For Youssef, the blind man of my film, serenity comes from his little balcony, the sound of nature, the angelic voices and touches of his family. The beauty is in his mind and ugliness does not exist. He is like Adam in the garden of paradise both protected and powerful. I wanted to explore what would happen to his serenity and his sense of control if he was taken out of Paradise.'' ''When Youssef is exposed to the visual world, the beauty he encounters is compellimg and frustratingly elusive. Ugliness and strangeness is everywhere. The aggressive presence of the world gradually silences the dialogue he has with God and himself. I realised that when man becomes deaf to his inner dialogue and ignores the positive messages the world sends him the only actions he could do would be selfish, violent and destructive.'' On a concluding note, Majidi says, ''When fate tests us, our life, if not built on firm foundations often collapses. For Youssef, the tests that life put on him reduced him to the powerlessness of a small God's creature. I still wonder what this child-man would do with the new life he is now begging for...'' UNI LS WD SB HT1758