Paradise Now

Synopsis: Said (Kais Nashif) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are young Palestinians, friends since childhood, having grown up together in Nablus, under Israeli occupation in the West Bank. They are recruited to carry out a suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, but the operation does not go as planned. They end up back in Nablus, trying to come to grips with their immediate situation and, ultimately, with the decision they each have to make.

Little more than a month ago suicide bombers killed 22 people in Bali. With labellings of these bombers as "monsters" and demands that groups such as Jemaah Islamiah be declared illegal, Paradise Now could not be more topical. The film looks at issues surrounding the Israeli occupation of Palestine from the Palestinian perspective but without justifying the acts of the would-be bombers. More importantly in an Australian context, it reminds us (or perhaps teaches us) that these people (Palestinian, JI or otherwise) are real people, with real beliefs and rationales for their actions.

Despite the confronting subject matter, the film is easily accessible. It is shot beautifully on location in Nablus, and Abu-Assad has extracted brilliantly intense, natural and complex performances from his inexperienced leads, Nashif and Suliman. Paradise Now is a genuine thriller and for the most part the message is delivered subtlety, integrating rather than interfering with the plot.

Most impressive is the careful portrayal of Said and Khaled as passionate and confused young men. Abu-Assad doesn't ask us to agree, but to understand. These are not soulless practitioners of evil, but rather real people who are prepared to kill, and be killed, for a cause they believe passionately in. The human-ness of the operation is depicted particularly well as the boys prepare - the video camera being used to record the suicide tapes repeatedly breaks down, and later, Khaled mimics a movie gangster as he practises pulling the detonating cord.

Paradise Now is a substantial film which should provoke much debate, not only in the Palestinian and Israeli context, but in relation to suicide bombings and related attacks all over the world. It does not seek to answer the question as to why people become suicide bombers, because that is the point - there are as many combinations of motives as there are individuals who make that choice.

 

 

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