PARADISE NOW Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Warner Independent Pictures
Grade: B+
Directed by: Hany Abu-Assad
Written by: Hany Abu-Assad, Bero Beyer
Cast: Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal, Amer Hlehel,
Hiam Abbass
Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 103/05 It’s fair to say that most of the politically aware world are opposed to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the building of settlements therein. While some might accuse these critics of being anti-Semitic or against the very existence of the Israel, many of the critics are Jews, even Israelis themselves. One of the problems of the occupation is that the existence of buffer zones in Gaza and the West Bank seemed not to prevent the 1973 war from breaking out, one which saw Egypt successfully challenging Israelis until the Egyptians were driven back just as the UN cease fire took hold. How do the Palestinians, who have been under Israeli occupation for thirty-eight years, deal with their problem? While most simply live as best they can, a small contingent of primarily young people have been willing to have belts laden with explosives tied around their waists, to be detonated by the pulling of a cord when maximum casualties can be expected. To my knowledge, the Koran does not advocate this extreme measure, but the suicide bombers have been seduced with promises of Paradise and glory throughout the Palestinian areas, and a few have personal grudges against Israelis for particularly harsh treatment they or members of their families, have received. This charged political atmosphere serves as backdrop to Hany Abu-Assad’s film, written by him together with Bero Beyer. “Paradise Now” focuses on two would-be suicide bombers who are best of friends: Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), Said serving as a man who has a personal reason for reconciling a particular act of shame to which he bore witness when he was just ten years old. “Paradise Now” lacks the romance of one of Abu-Assad’s features, “Rana’s Wedding,” and certainly lacks the nail-biting tension of most of Costa-Gavras’s output. Yet the film serves to enlighten not only those who are apolitical or detached from events occurring outside their own neighborhoods but even those who keep up with periodicals like “New Republic,” “Nation,” and “National Review.” No other film to date has shown the humanity of the individuals who sacrifice their lives for the resistance. The two fellows who strap explosives to their waist are not loonies or dedicated members of the terrorist group Hamas, but seem to be regular guys who enjoy life, particularly the friendship they feel for each other. While we take for granted that Said and Khaled have prepared for a suicide mission for months, maybe years, the film deals only with the details of what would be their last 48 hours on this earth. Destined to set off their explosives inside Tel Aviv, one to detonate fifteen minutes after his friend’s to catch emergency workers rushing to the scene, they appear at first reconciled to their mission. They’re neither overly excited nor particularly fearful of death, especially when their trainer, Jamal (Amer Hlehel), backed by organization big-shot Abu-Karem (Ashraf Barhoum) assure them that just after the big boom, two angels will pick them up and escort them to Paradise. When Said’s would-be girl friend Suha (Lubna Azabal), a cosmopolitan woman who was born in France and brought up in Morocco, finds out about the plot and warns Said that “there is no Paradise,” Said retorts “May God forgive you.” Filmed mostly in the West Bank town of Nablus with a few days in Nazareth and a shorter time in Tel Aviv, “Paradise Now” does raise tensions when the suicide bombers get separated, which prompts the planners to think that at least one of them will betray the organization. But a good deal of the story is routine, relating the ritual by which the martyrs are prepped for their mission. After being chosen, they make statements before a video camera, AK-47 in hand, at which point director Abu-Assad allows for a little humor. Their beards are shaved, their hair is cut, to blend in with mainstream Israeli society, bathed for purification, dressed in suits and ties, and given a farewell dinner. On the morning of the adventure, one of the pair displays some hesitation at what he is about to do while the other remains resolute. The film winds down on a Tel Aviv bus filled with soldiers. This is the sort of film which calls for a documentary to accompany it, perhaps in its DVD stage. We’d like to know just how the group got permission from Israeli authorities to photograph within Tel Aviv, and even more compelling, how the team had to negotiate between two rival factions of Palestinians, one believing that the film-makers are undercutting the seriousness of the resistance, the other supporting the activities of the crew. The performances are fine all around, though one would like to know more about why Suha, played by Lubna Azabal, chose to leave France and Morocco for the West Bank, which militants call “a prison.” To the crew’s credit, the hand-held digital camera was dispensed with in favor of full 35mm film stock. The film, which succeeds more as a device to enlighten its audience than to raise serious tension, eschews music and is in Arabic with English subtitles. Rated PG-13. 90 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
