Oyuncular Kais Nashef - Said Ali Suliman - Khaled Lubna Azabal - Suha Amer Hlehel - Jamal Hiam Abbass - Said's mother Ashraf Barhom - Abu-Karem Mohammad Bustami - Abu-Salim
Bilgi :-- "Paradise Now" follows the last few days of two suicide bombers. Dutch-based Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad has designed the story so that a number of different viewpoints on this tragic Middle Eastern form of terrorism get aired. While nothing truly new or shocking emerges, the film does bring clarity and compassion to its depiction of an act that baffles, angers and sickens people the world over.
The film, which debuted here in Competition, undoubtedly will receive more festival dates. Considering the subject matter, one would hope that the Dutch-German-French co-production gets wide distribution. Interestingly, the head of the Israeli Film Fund, here for the Berlinale, said his group would give distribution support to "Paradise Now" in Israel itself.
Suicide bombers have become so ingrained in Palestinian culture that when two characters visit a video store, we discover the store rents or sells videos of "martyr" statements taped before their final sacrifice. They occupy the same shelf as videotapes of confessions by collaborators before their execution by Islamic militants.
The two young Palestinian men recruited for a mission in Tel Aviv, Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), friends since childhood, are by any standards ordinary men. Said even says he sees his life as dull. They work as auto mechanics, smoke hookahs, drink tea and never discuss politics or religion. Yet when they receive news of their selection as suicide bombers, they treat the job as an honor. The casualness of their acceptance of this honor is the most striking thing in the movie.
They spend what should be their final night with their families. Because of the need for absolute secrecy, they cannot make proper goodbyes. Their taped martyr statements even have a comical air to them.
When the carefully drawn-up plans go awry, this provides Abu-Assad, who wrote the screenplay with producer Bero Beyer and Pierre Hodgson, the opportunity to explore the issue from several viewpoints. A Palestinian woman (Lubna Azabal) who has returned to the territories after spending time in Europe argues vehemently that a Palestinian state needs to be achieved through peaceful means. Terrorism is self-defeating, she insists, because it gives Israeli's military an excuse for more violence against Palestinians.
Said views suicide bombing as the only way for Palestinians to reclaim their lost dignity in the Israeli "occupation" of Palestinians' land. And with more time to think, Khaled begins to have his doubts.
Abu-Assad keeps the portrait of the militants balanced and nuanced. No one is presented as a villain or crazed individual. This may not be the way some would like to see Islamic extremists portrayed, but they are all the more frightening for their ordinariness.
Shot entirely in Palestinian territories, the film benefits from highly competent international crew of filmmakers.
