Paradise Now
Buy this Italian Poster at AllPosters.com
Review #6 of 365
Film: Paradise Now [PG-13] 90 minutes
WIP: $11.00
When 1st Seen: 16 January 2006
Where Viewed: Capital Theater - Olympia, Olympia, WA
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Review Dedicated to: CHFK of Chicago, IL
 |  |
DVD | download |
Paradise Now is an incredibly serious and poignant film featuring the story of two young, Palestinian men being recruited to conduct a suicide-bombing mission. I had heard good things about the film when it was released back in the fall, but I had never had the opportunity to see it. That opportunity came in the form of a decision to try to see something important on MLK, Jr. Day in honor of the his legacy for peace. As it turns out, Paradise Now has a lot more to do with peace than it may seem at first or one might glean from reading descriptions or summaries of the film. In reality, it is the central focus of the film. How does one achieve peaceful, meaningful, change to circumstances viewed as unjust? Personally, I do not wish to get into taking sides on the issues in the film as this is not a political blog except that I will say this film will enlighten anyone who has struggled to comprehend what must go on in the minds and hearts of suicide-bombers as I am sure most people cannot and do not wish to ever be able to fully understand this.
This independent, international film, with subtitles in English, captures a 48-hour period of time in the lives of Said and Khaled portrayed by Kais Nashef and Ali Suliman respectively. Both young men have made the connections to allow themselves to be selected for a mission should the resistance leadership deem them worthy and essential. Along the way, they spend time with daughter of a fictional Palestinian freedom fighter named Suha, played by Lubna Azabal. Educated abroad, she does not share the feeling that martyrdom is the answer to the problems of her people, and it is she who begins to raise the doubt in the minds of Said and Khaled as they embark on this mental journey presumably one must take to prepare for the committing of this act. The self-induced mental torture the men endure, the inner conflict and struggle with which they must wrestle, the pain of realization that no matter what any holy book states, there may, indeed, be no afterlife, no paradise; and, ultimately, the conscience defying steps of mental gymnastics necessary are captured very successfully in the sometimes tortured looks and blank stares on the men’s faces. In the end, the film leaves you to wonder if the men were capable of finishing the job or if they had a change of heart. For me, the thought that they might not have completed their mission provided a glimmer of hope that people everywhere on this earth might begin to realize the ideas best said by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself “Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.” We must not only love our enemies, we must no longer see other humans as enemies in the first place, but rather as our brothers and sisters all striving to achieve the same peaceful existence that we are all entitled to enjoy.
Paradise Now is an important film. It is worth the investment of time to track it down. It is not a one-sided, pro-Palestinian film. It will cause anyone to think and think deeply about the issues of humanity and what we all should be doing as part of humanity. There need not always be a side to be on unless that side is the side of realizing that we must leave the next generations of children a world where all people can live in peace and decency and with the fundamental belief that ALL people are created equally with the right to live free.
Now Available for Purchase on DVD
Paradise Now [DVD](2005) DVD
| VHS | DVD |
No comments:
Post a Comment