Paradise Now on DVD (2005)

Paradise Now

SAI81 from Tonbridge [Highly rated reviewer] , 03/05/2006

am sure some people will take one look at the coverage of Paradise Now and vow not to see it. It's a Palestinian film about 24 hours in the life of two young childhood friends who are chosen for a 'martyrdom mission' in Israel. Given this there will be people who leap to the conclusion that it must be sympathetic to suicide bombers, or endorsing what they do. These people are wrong.

Paradise Now is a sober, serious film which takes a long hard look at people we usualy just arbitraily brand as monsters. The first 20 minutes of the film lets us get to know Khaled (Ali Suliman) and Said (Kais Nashef) we spend an afternoon with them; two young men much like any others and we get to like them which makes what follows all the more shocking. While the film refuses, to its credit, to demonise Khaled and Said it absolutely doesn't endorse what they plan to do and shows the terrorist network around them as fundamentally evil and dishonest.

The film is often chilling; witness Khaled's video statement about his actions, flawlessly played by Suliman, but doesn't forget that the grimness of it's subject needs some leavening and at the most tense moments a brief second of comedy is granted to you, almost as a way of letting you relax.

Leads Suliman and Nashef are spectacular and surrounded by an able supporting cast, notably Lubna Azabal as a young teacher who is falling for Said and Amer Hlehel as Jamal, one of the minders assigned to Said and Khaled and the film's true villain.

Debut director Hany Abu Assad doesn't use many filmmaking tricks, much of the film has the look of a documentary and that ring of truth extends to everything in the film. It's impossible to know how close Assad gets to the truth but this feels all too real.

So why not a top grade? Well I guessed the ending. Not that unusual but I guessed almost every detail by the middle of the film (and by the start of the last scene I'd even guessed exactly what the final shot would be). This predictability does make Paradise Now a slightly lesser film than it might otherwise have been but it is still pretty extraordinary and very highly recommended.

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A REALITY BEHIND THE POLITICS

Michelle Fallows from Doncaster , 24/02/2006

I watched almost all the movie and i will order it to watch it again at home. This is a real face of what is happening in Palestine and Israel. It is based on a true story. I recommend People from all religion background or even without anyreligion watch this. It is a piece of Reality what we are facing nowadays in our daily life

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Like screaming at a concrete barrier

PeterSays from Romsey [Highly rated reviewer] , 01/05/2007

Paradise Now makes no pretence at being a balanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is neither illusion to, nor even the slightest suggestion of, the carnage and the loss of innocent blood when a suicide bomber strikes, which to their mutilated victims and the families of the dead and injured, must seem utterly senseless.

The frustration and annoyance of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation is well portrayed, as is their close kinship and the claustrophobic atmosphere of a nation under siege. Arguments for both violent and non-violent protest are put forward in human terms in a very watch able film by the main characters, ordinary Palestinian people, while the organisers of the bombers are seen as cold and cynical.

Films, books, protests, diplomacy and bombings all continue, on and on and on, for years and years and years, yet nothing seems to change. It is so frustrating and is so senseless.

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A powerful, poignant, provocative drama !

A customer from Glasgow , 18/03/2006

'It would be difficult to undertake a more politically relevant film or explore a more volatile subject, and Abu-Assad attempts his project with skill and sensitivity.'

#Other Palestinian films to watch : Private(2004); Rana's Wedding (2002) ; Jenin, Jenin (2002) ; Gaza Strip (2002) & Cup Final (1991).

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Far better than I expected

A customer from Birmingham, England. , 06/01/2007

I found this genuinely thought provoking. It seemed well acted (difficult to be sure when relying upon subtitles). It is well shot and well paced.

On the political front it achieves the almost impossible - it seems to give a real, truthful impression of the state of matters for many Palestinians, but doesn't shout at you with any specific message.

I guess you could watch this film and feel it justifies whatever views you hold on the Palestinian situation. However, it will make you think.

Definitely worth watching.

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Like screaming at a concrete barrier

PeterSays from Romsey [Highly rated reviewer] , 01/05/2007

Paradise Now makes no pretence at being a balanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is neither illusion to, nor even the slightest suggestion of, the carnage and the loss of innocent blood when a suicide bomber strikes, which to their mutilated victims and the families of the dead and injured, must seem utterly senseless.

The frustration and annoyance of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation is well portrayed, as is their close kinship and the claustrophobic atmosphere of a nation under siege. Arguments for both violent and non-violent protest are put forward in human terms in a very watch able film by the main characters, ordinary Palestinian people, while the organisers of the bombers are seen as cold and cynical.

Films, books, protests, diplomacy and bombings all continue, on and on and on, for years and years and years, yet nothing seems to change. It is so frustrating and is so senseless.

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