Paradise Now

Star Review

A film that attempts to humanise terrorists will always be a hard sell, yet Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad has dared to offer exactly that, a compassionate, even-handed account of would-be suicide bombers, which demands to be seen.
Said and Khaled are childhood friends in the West Bank city of Nablus who work together at a car repair shop. During the day, Khaled argues with their boss, while Said flirts with a customer; at dusk, they relax in the hills overlooking the city. That evening, the pair almost casually accept a suicide mission in Tel Aviv, to take place the following day. They have just a few hours to prepare, to see their loved ones and to contemplate the realities of their 'martyrdom'.
Abu-Assad shifts his film expertly through the gears: from a portrait of life under occupation to a terrorist procedural, as Said and Khaled make their propaganda videos and learn how to operate their bombs, to a tense thriller as their certainty wilts under pressure. This is a political thriller with considerable substance, whose relevance is undiminished as the Middle East remains in such turmoil.

Demetrios Matheou on 11th August 2006

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Film Description

Nominated for an Oscar, and the winner of many awards across the world, this complex, conroversial film from Palestine follows two childhood friends who reunite years later when they are recruited by an extremist group to act as suicide bombers in a terrorist attack in Tel-Aviv. When they are separated, the two men have to decide whether or not to go through with the mission. A sober, effective film that refuses to settle for simplistic answers.

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Film Details

Cast

Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal

Technical Details