Paradise Now
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Movie Reviews of Paradise Now
Movie Review: Excellent, thoughtful, well balanced film that is great entertainment.
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this film to be excellent, well made and insightful. I found it had three strengths.
First, it has the qualities of a really good thriller. Two young Palestinian men, Said and Khaled, agree to be human bombs and travel to Tel-Aviv to wreck havoc. However, things go wrong and plot becomes complex as the two men are separated and separately decide whether or not to move forward with the mission. The men franticallylook for each other, for their Palestinian contacts, and for a way to remove the bombs tied to their waists. As the two men search for each other as well as the Palestinian underground leadership, the film becomes tense and full of plot twists.
Second, the film does a very good job of character divelopment. Of course Said and Khaled move from being junk yard mechanics to terrorists, but we see their character develop quickly when when the planned terrorist attack gets aborted. We see angry and nieve Khaled mve toward maturity and reflection. We see reflective and pensive Said move toward resolution and commitment to his task as an end point in the cycle of shame he has experienced since his father was executed/killed as a consprirator with the Isralis. In the character of Said we see why a young man would sacrifice his life for such a cause.
Third, the film presents a fair and balanced representation of the issues faced by the Palestinians. Suha, the grand-daughter of a Palestinian leader, provides us with the voice of peace and negotiation. We hear arguments from both sides of the Palestinian community. There are those that would seek reconciliation and peace and neotiation and then there are those who think the conditions have gone far beyond discussion and communication. The Palestinian terrorist leadership is revealed to be constantly on the run, always looking over their shoulders, and thus highly nervous when Said and Khaled fail at their mission on the first attempt. We see a decayed and poverty stricken Palestinian village compared to the brigh beaches and shopping malls of Tel-Aviv.
Despite the fact that this was a well balanced, thoughtful, and fair depiction of the dynamics in Palestinian villages, I still think a non-violent approach is the only way Palestinians will eventually gain the esteem and sympathy of the world. Terrorists and their acts continue to bring about violent reactions from Israel, thus setting up a cycle of violence and retribution.
The film is thought provoking, giving much more insight into the minds of poor Palestinians. It is well made and careful in presenting its message - thus making it all the more powerful.
Movie Review: Timely film that explores the motivations of suicide bombers and the suffering of the Palestinian people
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an outstanding movie that explores the motivations of Palestinian suicide bombers. The conventional wisdom in the US is that they are either religious fanatics, rabid anti-Semites, and/or political extremists who want simply to murder Israelis and push their country into the sea. This film tries to examine some of the moral complexities of the occupation and the suicide bombers, and to explain (and in part justify) their motives. If the director wanted to create a more sympathetic, nuanced image of the Palestinian resistance, I think he has succeeded. In this story, two young Palestinians who are close friends are called upon to carry out an operation against Israel. We follow the characters as they examine the reasons for volunteering for this mission, their uncertainties, and their motivations as they question whether or not they can really go through with the operation. Through them, we learn about the diversity of viewpoints among the Palestinians regarding the occupation and suicide bombing. We also see the suffering of the Palestinian people, and view up close what the Israeli occupation means to the daily life of the Palestinians. After watching this film, it is pretty easy to understand why the Palestinians are pissed. The only thing that I disliked about this movie was that the director completely avoided the difficult moral dilemma of the Palestinian suicide bombers attacking civilians by making the bomber's target a bus (mostly) full of Israeli soldiers. I suspect that the audience's reaction would be somewhat different if the bus were filled with women and children. This is really a minor complaint though, why should Palestinian films address all the moral complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when there are literally hundreds of pro-Israel propaganda films that completely ignore the effects of the creation of the Israeli state and the occupation on the indigenous Palestinians? This is a timely film that I think most viewers will find extremely compelling. This film is a start in what I hope is a greater effort to portray the Palestinian viewpoint on the conflict that will be accessable to Western (and particularly US) audiences. Regardless of what your viewpoint is on the conflict, this film is definitely worth watching.Movie Review: an extremely powerful movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I have just returned from watching "Paradise Now". Other reviewers have written much more fully about its plot, and so forth. I don't want to do that. I just want to say, in response to other viewers, and to those who may want to see the film or the video, that the claims that some reviewers make about the film--that it glorifies suicide bombings, that it is one-sided, that it condones violence--are utterly false. The film does not condone suicide bombings or anything of the sort. Rather, the film shows how such violence shatters worlds. What the film does is plunge the viewer into the midst of a situation most of us are aware exists, but know all too little about. The movie does so so vividly that you feel you are there, amidst the house-studded hillsides, ramshackle poverty, & isolated moments of beauty within Nablus. (I haven't been there, but apparently the movie was filmed largely in Nablus, until the danger of the situation forced filming to shift to Nazareth, so most of the footage of the city was indeed shot on location.) The movie is set in the Palestinian territories not as a slight to Israel, but rather because that is where suicide bombers happen to come from; it's a real place, even if nobody's been able to fit it politically onto the modern world-map. In my opinion, based on having just seen the movie, "Paradise Now" does *not* take sides, let alone in favor of suicide bombing, but rather presents a wide range of views about the conflict, with those of Suha, the young woman who argues most passionately against suicide bombings, specifically set up by the plot and the director so as to be at the forefront of the viewer's attention and sympathies. The movie is simply one of the most powerful movies I have ever seen. I recommend you see it as soon as possible if you have not done so already.Movie Review: Violence only implied, movie gets in your head
Summary: 5 Stars
I had read or heard about this Arabic language movie, and I was very interested so I bought a copy. Just as an aside, I told a coworker and friend that I had purchased the film. He is Egyptian and the movie had a special interest for him. We made a night of it, his wife and mother prepared a traditional Egyptian dinner and we watched the movie with his wife and his parents. He sent the kids to their rooms, although now I do not believe that to have been necessary.
It is a story about two friends in Palestine that decide to become suicide bombers. <!--more-->It explores why they would take such an action. The Western mind has a hard time comprehending this course of action. The movie paints of picture of two sympathetic individuals in an impossible situation without any real hope.
It also delves a little into the "characters" that recruit these young men (and of late women) for these suicide missions. It is not a pretty or complimentary picture. They make even used car salesmen seem honorable.
It in small ways demonstrates the frustrations and indignations of living in Palestine when most things are ultimately controlled by the Israelis.
While you would think this would be a violent and bloody movie, it is not. What violence there is, is implied or left to the viewer's imagination.
I still do not think suicide bombing is right or the solution to anything, but the movie did give me some insight into why it happens. It gave me insight into a different side of the Palestine/Israel conflict than I receive from the American media.
It is well worth watching for those reasons, and it is a well made movie to boot. Go rent it or buy it.
This movie is in Arabic with English subtitles.
Movie Review: Topnotch Political Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
Paradise Now is one of the best movies to come out of the Middle East in a long time. Although it had been hyped up for me by friends of mine months before I actually saw it, the film far surpassed my expectations.
Not only was I surprised that Warner Bros. would put out a film about such a controversial subject, but the cinematography retained a certain "indie" quality that made it a pleasure to watch. The editing is absolutely superb, and you will probably sweat in your seat for the full 90 minutes of the film. The excellent production quality and tight suspense contrasts with the long-winded opus "Munich" by Spielberg, but both are good films in broaching the difficult topic of terrorism and retribution. I also recommend the Israeli movie "Cup Final" for a poignant look at Israelis and Palestinian guerrillas before the era of suicide bombing (which began 1993-94).
The political message of the movie is actually quite powerful, for those who can handle a little nuance. By showing a snapshot of the lives of two Palestinian men who decide to become suicide bombers, the film refuses to condemn them as nameless, faceless terrorists. Rather, it demonstrates the horrible political tragedy of which their decision is part and parcel. In the end, the film proves that they actually DO have a choice to contribute to the cycle of violence (or not). The film is not a documentary (although it was shot on location with Israeli Jews and Arabs), and so it fails to articulate a clear political alternative to the current situation. However, by illustrating in stark terms the agency of the characters involved and the difference that their choices make, it points the way toward an ethical rejection of the status quo (violence) in favor of an alternative future.