Review of Paradise Now (2005) by Jonathan Y — 31 Dec 2007

Two Palestinian friends living under the occupation get their call up to become martyrs via suicide bombings in Tel Aviv. Slightly glossier than you'd expect for the subject matter, the film follows their story from just before finding out they were to become suicide bombers and the frantic 24 hours or so that follows.

There's no frantic cutting or grainy, dried-out-look filters and I think this deliberately middle-of-the-road presentation gives the story greater impact. It is an everyday story, it is dramatic and it is a story that we tend to hear the end result of and not how we've arrvied there.

I wouldn't say that there's a great deal of discussion of the Palestine situation in the film and I don't think it needs it. The film covers one of the most significant parts of that discussion in a way that everyone can understand and relate to and in many ways it's a dramatisation of parts of the excellent Death In Gaza, with a cinematic finish.

I would recommend this film to anyone, it is simple yet devastatingly effective.