Paradise Now poster & wallpaper

Ali Suliman, Amer Hlehel, Ashraf Barhom

Two youths from the Gaza strip are just 48 hours away from becoming the latest suicide bombers. Two young Palestinian men, Khaled and Said, are both recruited to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Avi...( read more  read more... )v. The two men are allowed to spend what is presumably their last night alive with their families. However, since absolute secrecy must be maintained and they can tell nobody of their mission, theirs can be no proper farewell. The next morning, the men are brought to the border. The bombs have been attached to their bodies in such a way as to make them completely hidden from view. However, the operation does not go according to plan and the two friends lose sight of each other. Separated from each other and left to their own devices, it's up to them to face their destiny and stand up for their convictions...

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81% liked it

23,222 ratings

PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Hany Abu-Assad

Release Date: October 28, 2005

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DVD Release Date: March 21, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (1,243)

  • danperry17
    September 12, 2009
    danperry17
    Intense, borderline claustrophobic, but all along it felt like something was missing in this film... cinematographically fantastic though, and exciting by times, it's worth watching, but it wasn't the fantastic film I'd heard it was. I still liked it, just an expectation problem ...( read more)I suppose. Still a better than average movie, no question.
  • rebvodka042099
    June 27, 2008
    rebvodka042099
    Amazing film. Palestine cinema at its finest moment.
  • EarthlyAlien
    June 16, 2008
    EarthlyAlien
    "You cannot alter your fate. There is no other way. It's God's will."

    A Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee, Paradise Now tells a personal story of terrorism from the perspective of two terrorists preparing to become martyrs for the cause. Said (Kais Nas...( read more)hef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), two ordinary Palestinians prone to killing time with a bong on a hillside, are chosen for a suicide mission - a retaliation for a crime against their people - and must quickly come to grips with the full impact of a decision they seem to have made long ago. Both are resolute in their conviction, until the carefully orchestrated plan goes awry and Said is forced to make his way back to a home base in chaos with the live bomb still strapped to his chest.

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    In a way, Paradise Now continues the trend of narrative films by filmmakers struggling to come to grips with a world where terrorism becomes less shocking by the day. Rather than being some horrific abnormality, these acts are approaching a point where they're a normal part of life, and with that familiarity comes an increased willingness to explore the issues at hand. The end result of this, we can hope, is an increased dialogue between cultures that find communication so difficult. Because if one film can cut through the fray, it may allow us to empathize, or at least understand the other side, and vice versa. At least, that's my hope.

    In Munich, Spielberg followed a group of assassins as they avenged the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes during the '72 Olympics. The killers, to no one's surprise, were Palestinians. It was a senseless killing, but one that could not be ignored. Paradise Now is the other side of the debate, a film set 30 years later but part of the same eternal struggle. Said and Khaled, the two martyrs, are avenging some Israeli act against their people. In reality, they might as well be retaliating for the killings in Munich, further proving the point made by both films that violence just creates more violence. Watching the two films, it's easy to see why these people have battled this way for so long, for both sides are absolutely convinced that they're the victims. But more importantly, both feel that this is the absolute best way to show the world that they cannot be treated like this, that they will react swiftly and violently. But what if neither of them had anything to react to? Would the killing stop? Perhaps, but I somehow doubt it.

    Much like Munich, Paradise Now attempts to tell its story by personalizing it, by staying close to a select few protagonists and letting us identify with their struggles, the idea being that if we can identify with the people doing the dirty work, then we can more easily relate to the larger issues involved. This is one theory. The other is that by staying so close to a protagonist, we are less likely to agree with a situation that puts our hero in danger, for we do not wish them any harm. Therefore, we can find faults in the system that straps a bomb to Said and Khaled's chests and sends them through a wire fence to kill as many soldiers as they can. I'd like to think the latter is true.

    And, as we all know, the easiest way to make the audience root for a protagonist to stay alive is by introducing a girl. So the day before he is to become a martyr, Said makes a personal connection of sorts with Suha (Lubna Azabal), the daughter of a great martyr. She, having felt first-hand the effects of losing someone so close to her, is active in human rights organizations and serves as the film's conscience. It is Suha who argues for peaceful alternatives and tries to dissuade Said from his intended mission, but Said has baggage of his own, and it isn't as simple as just being able to fall in love. But we want him to, and the film uses that to cast this noble martyrdom in a negative light without resorting to some flamboyant speech.

    For a while, we think she may be enough to keep him alive, as Said appears to be questioning the wisdom of the mission, and Khaled reminds him why they are doing what they are doing. But when everything goes wrong and Said is missing, Khaled breaks down and Said, on his return, is suddenly resolute. Effectively they switch, but the film never gives us a good reason for Said's sudden reversal, and that is its only major flaw, which prevents it from rising to the level of Spielberg's film.

    Beyond that, Paradise Now serves as an important contribution in the terrorism dialogue - although this concerns the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not the Middle East - precisely because it's a film where the so-called "terrorists" are our protagonists, that attempts to shed a little light on why they do what they do. But more importantly, we see the struggle necessary to carry out these acts of immense violence by very ordinary people who've simply had enough. They aren't evildoers who hate freedom. They are people who crave freedom and equality and everything else we hold dear. They just don't have access to it and they don't have a means by which to get it. And when they did, it was given to someone else.
  • binky013
    March 7, 2008
    binky013
    Just out of personal curiosity, I wonder if any of you flixsters miss Gene Siskel as much as I do? Roger Ebert, no offense, buddy, but as someone who has made a gazillion dollars off of slickly skimming the movie "explanation" biz, why do I always get the feeling that you're cut...( read more)ting and pasting your reviews and maybe not even watching the whole movie when you write about it?

    While I agree with you -- to a very small extent --that the terrorist bomber is a figure to be pitied, Roger, sent out to waste his/her life -- and often the lives of innocent victims, which is where pity stops -- by a "braintrust" that is too cowardly to do the deed themselves -- think terrorists like bush/cheney and their ilk -- I have to say that the following statement by you, Roger, gives me pause:

    "When religion is involved, it sidesteps the issue, since religion provides an absolute rationale."

    The "issue" is the rationale behind going through with a suicide bombing. Ah, Roger, did you listen to the speech that Kais Nashif (Said) gives when he is about to be cut from the project? This speech is the heart of the film, Roger. Don't you understand that he's not talking about his religion, but about what a lousy life he leads and that he refuses to return to it? His life sucks, Mr. Ebert, and that is the absolute "rationale" behind what he finally does. Now that really is pitiful. It's pathetic. I would really rather have him say the principal motivating factor is his religion. Then at least we could imagine that Said believes he's found a higher calling, no matter how twisted it may be. Let's kill innocent people -- and that bus is full of them -- because we have lousy lives. Great. Well, at least it beats bushco: Let's kill innocent people because we're rich, but we want to be richer.

    I tell you, flixster friends, this really really really gives one pause. I wonder what Siskel would have said in return? Roger, you ignorant slut? Oh, sorry, that's the Saturday Night Live take on 60 Minutes. Siskel would probably just laugh out loud.
  • RossCollinsUK
    February 17, 2008
    RossCollinsUK
    The perfect riposte to Munich, showing the humanist side to life in Palestine. Two friends face a conflict in their mind against the struggle of the occupation. It's neither a romantic story of freedom fighters nor a dehumanising take on terrorism.
  • RThornhill
    October 16, 2009
    RThornhill
    recommended by topsie11...........
  • Topsie11
    October 15, 2009
    Topsie11
    my classmate recommend this film ...Overall this is a great movie. politics surrounding the film.. the most satisfying films about oppression Ive seen.. a brave act. It Gives a powerful insight about Palestinian suicide bombing... every frame gives a solid impact ..i cried.. laug...( read more)hed...an outburst of emotion.. a unique film that i seldom see with superb actual suicidal operations that really impressed me.. the message is clear kill the enemy before they kills you!

    remarkable quotes from suha " Revenge is different from struggle," .
    " It justifies Israeli killings."
  • jscottcorley
    September 5, 2009
    jscottcorley
    Interesting viewpoints abound. Movie needed more of the psychological angle. Suicide bombers are the scum of the earth,
  • rainonjune
    September 4, 2009
    rainonjune
    Two youths from the Gaza strip are just 48 hours away from becoming the latest suicide bombers. Two young Palestinian men, Khaled and Said, are both recruited to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. The two men are allowed to spend what is presumably their last night alive wi...( read more)th their families. However, since absolute secrecy must be maintained and they can tell nobody of their mission, theirs can be no proper farewell. The next morning, the men are brought to the border. The bombs have been attached to their bodies in such a way as to make them completely hidden from view. However, the operation does not go according to plan and the two friends lose sight of each other. Separated from each other and left to their own devices, it's up to them to face their destiny and stand up for their convictions... (taken from FLIXSTER review)
  • ahhh1989
    August 2, 2009
    ahhh1989
    Incredibly disturbing. It's one of those films that builds and builds and builds in a curious yet rather striking way. It finishes in a devastating and haunting pay-off that I think will get to a lot of people. It's a really exquisite film.

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Comments

  • blizzpirate
    August 24, 2008
    blizzpirate
    good movie but the ending sucked

    it ended abruptly and there was no music with the credits or anything, it just went black
    it ended when u didnt expect it
    -i agree it leaves u angry a little bit
  • aphoenix1
    January 23, 2007
    aphoenix1
    A very exciting movie about Palestinian life but with strange end !!
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