Paradise Now
After having visited the West Bank I don’t think life can ever be quite the same. How can you go back to reading about suicide bombers without feeling for the families of the dead on both sides of the conflict? How can you watch the fear in the Palestinian and Israeli soldiers’ eyes in news footage without wanting to scream at them to lay down their guns and walk away? To solve this endless fighting in other ways than by killing each other.
The Middle Eastern conflict is, of course, as much financial and political as it is military and don’t get me wrong, I’m not for a minute saying that I think it will ever be easy to solve. But I believe the best place to start is by every single individual looking inside themselves for a way to change the world around them. That is exactly what happens in Paradise Now, a thought provoking and beautiful new film by Hany Abu-Assad.
Two young Palestinian men Said (Kais Nashev) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) who have volunteered as suicide bombers are summoned to do their duty to the Palestinian people by strapping on explosives and taking out as many Israeli soldiers as possible in a major operation. They get to spend one last night at home with their families without telling them what is about to happen. The main question is: will their action help the Palestinian people’s cause?
Throughout the film different points of view are presented in logical progression. People believe in certain things because of what has happened to themselves or their families during the Intifada. Khaled’s father limps because Israeli soldiers once entered his house and asked him which of his legs he wanted them to break. He chose the left. Said’s father is dead, another victim of the conflict.
But the young men aren’t the only characters in this mix. There is also a young woman, Suha wonderfully portrayed by (Lubna Azabal) whose father is one of the most revered martyrs. She was born in Paris and educated in Morocco and has a different view of the struggle for freedom. Said’s picking on Suha’s accent provides light relief at times and there are other comical touches which somehow makes the serious subject matter even more real. Things don’t always turn out quite the way they were planned.
This film is riveting viewing for anyone interested in the conflict but even people who have no prior background knowledge will walk away from Paradise Now feeling that they have been shown the complexity of it and learnt a lot. The bonus is that it is also a very well acted, beautiful, touching and funny movie about real people who love their mothers and are attracted to pretty girls, just like most of the guys I know.
Anna Solding
