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Paradise Now Movie Review

Paradise Now is a 2005 Palestinian psychological and political drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad and starring Kaid Nashef and Ali Suliman. It is such a great, important movie.

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“If you’re not afraid of death,

you’re in control of life“

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Khaled and Said are Palestinian friends recruited by a terrorist group to become suicide bombers in Tel Aviv. Armed with explosives, they attempt to cross into Israel, but are pursued by suspicious border guards. Khaled returns to the terrorists, while Said sneaks into Israel and ponders detonating at another target. After Khaled and Said reunite to begin their mission again, Khaled has reconsidered, and tries to convince Said to give up the bombing as well.

Clearly a contentious topic, the film itself actually humanizes, but never empathizes too much with these two men. It just gives us a look into what these people would think and how they would feel before such committing such an atrocious act on others and themselves. Personally, despite its controversies, I wouldn’t call Paradise Now a political movie myself, but a psychological drama first and foremost as it gives us a psychological insight into this issue.

Khaled and Said are both effective as the protagonists. The performances from Kaid Nashef and Ali Suliman are fantastic and the two imbue so much heart into these roles that really needed more emotion to get behind them and their goal. The movie effectively showcases that suicide bombing is first of all an atrocity committed upon those who do it while also stating that doing the dirty work for others is just plain wrong. This is basically sacrifice and it’s both disgusting and disturbing.

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The dialogue is the foremost reason why this movie is so terrific. It is just exceptional. Not only does it deal with the issue at hand, but it also raises questions about the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict and just how huge of a toll this conflict has left on both sides. There is this incredible argument full of rapid-fire lines between the protagonist and his love interest that was the best scene in the movie for me.

In that scene, the role of religion is touched upon as well as the immorality behind this mission. Thus, the film gave us both sides of the argument without ever resorting to giving its own political statement. It raises questions instead of giving us answers, and that was crucial for such a polarizing, difficult subject matter.

Speaking of religion, yes, the film does showcase how these suicide bombers would have better motivation regarding their mission if they thought that God and paradise will await them afterward. The movie, thus, gives us a painful insight into the dangerous messaging that all of the world’s religions have when it comes to the afterlife and just how less appreciating of life religious people are because of it.

Paradise Now is technically solid. It is far from amazing or anything, but it is serviceable. The dialogue is basically the main star here along with the themes and the emotional engagement while the cinematography and pacing are just fine. The direction is more competent, though.

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The film garnered a lot of controversy obviously by the Israelis, which was expected, but still frustrating as the movie is anything but a political propaganda piece. The failure by the Academy to honor this film with an Oscar and them giving it to the much inferior ‘Tsotsi’ was even more troublesome and this decision still feels terrible.