Paradise Now
by Hany Abu-Assad
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Actor: Ali Suliman, Hamza Abu-Aiaash, Kais Nashif, Lotuf Neusser, Lubna AzabalDirector: Hany Abu-Assad
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Hany Abu-Assad
Producer: Amir Harel
Producer: Bero Beyer
Writer: Bero Beyer
Producer: Gerhard Meixner
Producer: Hengameh Panahi
Producer: Jeroen van den Idsert
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-03-21
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Paradise Now
DVD Review: Watch and Understand
Summary: 2 Stars
Being from Israel, this movie is bound to affect me in different ways. Hearing that this was about the Palestinian point of view, I mostly expected bias, but I simply had to watch this out of an intense curiosity to understand. I very much needed to get some insight regarding the people that are trying to kill me every day.
The movie's prime objective is to put a human face on the suicide bombers and to explain why they feel this is necessary. This is a good thing. I WANT to see these people as human beings and I want to understand them.
Two aspiring martyrs and one more peaceful-minded Arab girl influenced by Westerners are the protagonists. Their daily lives are explored, the constant tension and presence of the barriers and Israeli soldiers is shown, they play, work, discuss their existence and humiliations, and disagree on how to achieve freedom. Palestinian society is shown to glorify the bombers and decry collaborators as the ultimate humiliation, with home-made movies containing their last words being sold as populist entertainment (both martyrs and collaborators).
When it's time for our protagonist to make his own impassioned video, the camera breaks down, then he inserts a reminder for his mother about water filters. The procedure to convert this human who is just like us into a killer is shown to be a well-oiled machine run by professionals who are seen as legendary heroes of society. They are trained on everything from the mindset they need, to the technicalities of the bomb, to the technical fact that two angels will pick them up and take them to heaven as soon as they die. One bombing attempt goes wrong, the bombers suffer plenty of second thoughts and moral questions, they are affected by the sight of children, and finally, they go after paradise because they are driven into a corner, desperate and frustrated and want to go to heaven.
And now comes the discussion: Is the movie objective? Are the anti-Israel speeches made by the protagonist or by the director? Many reviewers claim this movie is objective and presents two sides; but the only two sides are on differing ways to fight the occupation of Israel.
The occupation is presented as an absolute evil, and the Israelis are claimed to have no morals by both 'sides'. The Israelis are after ethnic cleansing and the humiliation and control of Palestinians, but, claims the peace-loving girl, by bombing them up 'we are merely giving them an excuse to continue killing and humiliating us'. How on earth is this objective? It's a trick. By presenting a relatively moderate point of view, it gives the feeling of balance.
Here are some objective and verifiable facts to balance out the propaganda in this film: When the land was split into two nations, the first thing Palestinians did was attack. They lost (just barely), and Egypt and Jordan occupied their land for 20 years. When Palestinians attacked Jordan, they were killed and driven out by Jordanians and promptly went to make a bigger mess in Lebanon. When Egypt and Jordan attacked Israel, Israel took the Palestinian land from them. When Israel offered land for peace, they refused to talk and attacked again a few years later. Israel continues to occupy land that has been repeatedly used for aggression and murder, and every time peace talks are initiated, the Palestinians increase their attacks. When Israel forces out settlers to give them Gaza, instead of bulding a nation, they use it to attack Israel even harder.
And then we have the official Palestinian government's (Hamas) charter that says Israel does not have a right to exist, it must be destroyed, and that all talks with Israel are useless and bad. This is in writing and can be verified by anyone and yet the majority of Palestinians voted for Hamas and support suicide bombing. Even the word 'Palestine' is a symbol of occupation forced by Romans over the Jews. There were Jewish 'Palestinians' in this land continously for thousands of years way before the Muslims even existed, and yet we are occupiers? We have no right to exist? The only reason there were fewer Jews than Arabs here is because they were repeatedly thrown out or killed, and weren't allowed back in.
One serious mistake Israel made was to allow settlements on this land before the issues and partitions were settled. But if the Arabs had negotiated for peace back in the 1970s, the settlements wouldn't have had a chance to spread. And when push came to shove, Sharon uprooted settlements for the Palestinians in Gaza.
I and most other Israelis want the 'Palestinians' to have their land and freedom. I want to respect them, to treat them as neighbours, to trade with them. But every time we turn to them for peace, we get bombed. Yes, the barriers, curfews, and occupations are evil. But without them we get bombed every day. History has proven this over and over again. Every time we pull out they launch another attack. Every time we give them something, they use it against us to kill us. When they do get land they show no interest in building an economy and a nation, only to attack. So we have no choice but to keep 'humiliating' them. Otherwise we'd be dead. It's their official policy to kill us when we turn to them for peace. This is a fact, in writing, supported by a majority of their citizens, AND proven a dozen times over by history.
So going back to the movie: If what the movie shows is truly what Palestinians feel and think, and all they see is the occupation and Israeli soldiers ruining their lives and taking away their freedom, then it is an amazing phenomenon of blind rage that doesn't know when to quit or when to try alternatives. I agree that we are humiliating and killing them, but have they given us a choice?
I watched this movie to understand them, and now, unfortunately, I do. For this reason, I recommend this movie. But, as opposed to what another reviewer said, to understand is not to forgive.
I hope one day the Palestinians will understand our point of view. That we are willing to give them their own state and freedom as long as they don't want us dead and that they make us believe that over 60 years of continuous blind rage and religious hate are over. You want your own state? Then next time we come to you to talk peace for the umpteenth time, call a cease-fire, recognize us as potential neighbours and stop killing our children. It's that simple.
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