PARADISE NOW
2005 (U S A)
DIRECTED BY
HANY ABU-AZAD
Paradise Now follows Palestinian childhood
friends Said and Khaled who live in Nablus and have been recruited
for suicide attacks in Tel Aviv. It focuses on what would be their
last days together.
Their handlers from an unidentified resistance group tell them the
attack will take place the next day. The pair record videos
glorifying Allah and their cause, and bid their unknowing families
and loved ones goodbye, while trying to behave normally to avoid
arousing suspicion. The next day, they shave off their hair and
beards and don suits in order to look like Israelis. Their cover
story is that they are going to a wedding.
An explosive belt is attached to each man; the handlers are the
only ones with the keys needed to remove the belts without detonating
them. The men are instructed to detonate the bombs at the same place,
a military check point in Israel, with a time interval of 15 minutes
so that the second bomb will kill police arriving after the first
blast.
They cross the Israeli border, but have to flee from guards.
Khaled returns to their handlers, who have fled by the time Said
arrives. The handlers remove Khaled's explosive belt and issue a
search for Said. Khaled believes he is the best person to find Said
since he knows him well, and he is given until the end of that day to
find him.
After Said escapes from the guards, he re-enters Israeli territory
alone. At one point, he considers detonating the bomb on a commercial
bus, but he decides not to when he sees a child on board. Eventually,
Said reveals his reason for taking part in the suicide bombing. While
in a car with Suha, a woman he has fallen in love with — who plays
the role of the doubter or the men's conscience — he explains that
his father was an ameel (a "collaborator," or
Palestinian working for the Israelis), who was executed for his
actions. He blames the Israelis for taking advantage of his father's
weakness.
Khaled eventually finds Said, who is still wearing the belt and
about to detonate it while lying on his father's grave. They return
to the handlers, and Said convinces them that the attack need not be
canceled, because he is ready for it. They both travel to Tel Aviv.
Influenced by Suha, who discovered their plan, Khaled cancels his
suicide attack. Khaled tries to convince Said to back off as well.
However Said manages to shake Khaled by pretending to agree.
The film ends with a long shot of Said sitting on a bus carrying
Israeli soldiers, slowly zooming in on his eyes, and then suddenly
cuts to white.
Paradise Now was
the first Palestinian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for
the Best Foreign Language Film.
