“Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest–whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories–comes afterward. These are games; one must first answer.” Albert Camus
When dealing with a film of this type it’s possible to go wrong in a number of different ways. If it hadn’t come across correctly, it could have come across as condoning or glorifying terrorism. Similarly if it had gone the other way and tried not to offend anyone it may have ended up not saying very much. All of this is before the plot and character development and the obvious fear of trying to take in too much context, thus forgetting that the primary purpose is to produce a good film (see Syriana).
Hany Abu-Assad who wrote, directed and produced the film avoids the last trap by using a simple yet deep plot, as a base from which to reflect on the nature of occupation and the motivations behind suicide terrorists. Even if stripped of its political context, Paradise Now would be a very entertaining thriller. The characters are at different times creepy, charming, vulnerable and always real. Meanwhile the plot takes interesting twists which are both genuine and surprising.
Does the plot take one twist too many? Is the film ‘jammed into a Hollywood template’ as one critic alleges? I would answer no and suggest that one of the things which made this such a captivating film was the way in which it would threaten to take the cliched line before swiftly moving away, leaving the viewer with a sense of the shallowness that the first approach would have meant.
Fundamentally Paradise Now is a beautiful meditation by Hany Abu-Assad on a whole range of things. Suicide, Occupation, Life, Love, Collaboration, Courage and much more. It deals with what it means to be Human and deserves to be watched by as wide an audience as possible. Even if one isn’t particularly interested in the ins and outs of the peace process you can’t help to be moved, and shaken, by its raw power.
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For IMDB link click here.
For Official website click here.
June 16, 2006 at 4:37 pm |
Interesting review. I liked it, but I preferred Syriana much more. the two are good in different ways: PN provides a close up of the individual Israeli-Palestinian experience; S is an almost academic synthesis of the larger geopolitical factors and how it shapes individual experiences. latter is overloaded with facts, events, to be sure, it is quite unwieldy, but then isn’t that the way the reality of politics intersecting with individual human life works?
September 19, 2007 at 6:32 pm |
and then i came out, mommy move me down sout. Martino Heino.
October 21, 2007 at 8:47 pm |
and oh i with my girl who i though was my worl. Huda Swithun.