Review of Paradise Now (2005) by Jim H — 01 Jan 2012

Two Palestinian would-be suicide bombers get separated after their plot goes wrong.

From the Palestinian perspective, there are few films that do their side of the conflict better than Paradise Now. Directors Hany Abu-Assad and Amedeo Pagani exhibit fearless filmmaking; they don't balk at choosing suicide bombers as their heroes and attempt to fully explore the conditions that would drive people to such extremes. We get the spouting rhetoric of the violent resistance's leaders, the war-torn landscapes, and some - though not enough - of the examples of how Israel's occupation affects the Palestinians' daily lives.

The performances by the two leads, Kais Nashef and Ali Suliman, are fantastic. Especially after his haircut, Nashef reminded me of an Arab Clive Owen with his intense, piercing stare and his determined walk. Lubna Azabal plays "girl," but she does it fairly well.

I thought the film did devolve into a reading of Fanon versus Gandhi post-colonial theory during the conversation between Suha and Khaled; this was the only time when I thought that the film's political analysis was not rooted in the characters. And I thought that Khaled's transformation wasn't portrayed completely; there certainly needed to be more steps along the way.

Overall, for anyone interested in why political power players constantly discuss Israel and Palestine, this is an important film, and if you aren't interested in this conflict, you should be.