Tejas Nair Never have I seen such a topic on-reel. And Majid Majidi does it with finesse, cooked up with traces of sentiments and etching up emotions into a beautiful layer of life lesson.The Willow Tree talks about a taciturn, blind professor and his lives, before and after a surgery that changes his life forever. Before, he is calm and loving. He loves his family & work. Then comes life values and when God puts him on test, things go pumping and wrecking. What brought luck to him, snatches all his glorious memories and turns him into something he never thought he'd become.The plot goes heavy on the darker and duller side towards the end, depicting how life can turn upside down, if we slip the path once. Chiefly, it talks about the dangers of life that we want or never ever dreamed of. Lots of thing depicted, lots of things to learn, this film is a perfect blend of life and interpretation. It cannot be debated as to why the divine power creates things as they are and this story gives us a promising insight. Cast is so beautifully active, the message is brightly conveyed. Music is very good.BOTTOM LINE: Majidi is a master and as like all his films, this one is another feather in his hat.Profanity/Vulgarity/Sex/Porn: No | Violence: Mediocre | Gore/Alcohol/Smoking: No | Gore: Mediocre

Sheroz Aziz You will find some similarities in majid majidi's each films that are man is attached with nature sometimes its rain sometimes ostrich and sparrows and other times its tress.This was one of Iranian and majidi's best film when the teacher is blind He loves inner beauty and feel nature and when He gets his eyes vision which is not transitory.He first fall in love with a girl who has a outer beauty and tires to leave her mom and wife back who cared his 38 years life.Then he finds some distress like poverty when he comes by a shop and watch a poor baby then he see a guy who is spending his life on risk by doing pick pocket.its better to not to have vision when world has such distress and misfortunewe'll have to thank him for what he as given us because when he doesn't, there are some reasons behind it.

MartinHafer A blind Iranian professor is sent to France to get an operation for a small tumor under his eye. Fortunately, it turns out to be benign and the doctors are surprised to see that in addition to removing the tumor, they think they might be able to restore his sight---which he lost when he was 8 years-old! When he returns home, he can see and is met by a huge group of people who welcome him and celebrate his new sight. Despite being a relatively small scene, it is one of the more touching I have ever seen. You can't help but feel wonderful for the man and seeing his crying at the reception is a terrific scene. I was impressed by the actor, Parviz Parastui, in how he handled this scene...with only uttering a single word. It's a fabulous scene--and worth seeing the movie just for this--however, there is still an hour left in the film at this point. Interestingly, however, what happens next was totally unexpected. It seems that making the transition to his old life is NOT as easy as it initially seemed. See the film yourself to see what I mean.Like other Majidi films, this one has a lovely directorial touch to it. Great cinematography, fitting and evocative music and a focus on simple folks--all what I've come to expect from his films. While this film is not one of my favorites Majidi films like COLOR OF PARADISE and CHILDREN OF HEAVEN, it is so completely original and heart-felt that I strongly suggest you see it--even though it is not one of his "feel good" films when all is said and done.This is an interesting topic for director Majid Majidi. That's because although he's only made a few full-length films, this is the second one he made where the leading character is blind (the other being the amazing must-see film, THE COLOR OF PARADISE). Because this is a familiar theme, I'd love to know if this is a topic that is near to him--perhaps he has a blind family member or friend--though neither his web site nor IMDb could shed any light on this for me. If you have any idea why he came back to this topic, I'd love to know.UPDATE: Since I first reviewed the film, I have found myself recommending it so many times and thinking about it so much that my original score of 8 seems low, and have recently changed the rating to 9. Well worth seeing.

ramesh ramakrishnan iyer A very good movie. The actors and the director have done an awesome job. The photography is pure poetry. The places and the locations are very evocative. The story is very deep. It makes you see the world with totally different eyes. A simple plot of a blind man regaining his sight is turned into into a masterpiece of emotions. Some scenes in the movie are really powerful and are there to stay within you, deep inside. Yusef the hero of the film is a strong character. Depite his blindness, as a professor he has done a lot and won the respect and the hearts of the people. But when he gets his sights back the world around him is totally different and he struggles even more. He is not able to cope with what he sees and his image of his wife and the family and his mother all confuse him. He finds his friends wife attractive and becomes obsessed with meeting her and hearing her voice etc. The scenes depicting Yusef's desires and the confusion are a marvel in direction and acting. There are some over dramatic elements in this movie that could have been avoided but even those scenes have a point in touching the viewer a bit deep and making the point. All in All a superb film. Makes one wonder