‘Paradise Now’ gives viewers a challenge

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, November 3, 2005

Plenty of movies flatter the audience, or reaffirm our existing beliefs. “Paradise Now” is one of those welcome films that challenges us for virtually its entire running time.

Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad takes us inside the world of terrorists, focusing on two young Palestinians living in Nablus, in the West Bank. The film was actually made in Nablus (and partly in Nazareth), under dangerous conditions.

The strange thing is, for the first 10 minutes of the movie, we don’t know Said (Kais Nashif) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are terrorists; they actually look like normal young guys, working as auto mechanics, smoking a hookah after work, complaining about having no money.

Then they are taken aside by an operative for a terrorist organization and told that they have been selected to become suicide bombers on a job in Tel Aviv the next day.

Khaled is excited, believing in the cause and looking forward to however many virgins are supposedly waiting in paradise. Said is more troubled. In the middle of the night, he visits a woman (Lubna Azabal), the daughter of a famous martyr, who is herself an atheist and pacifist. Her arguments are persuasive, but still blasphemous to Said’s ears.

The next day comes, and we watch with fascination, horror, and disbelief at the preparations for the “job.” Explosives are strapped to Said and Khaled’s bodies and they put on new black suits, as though preparing for the first day at a new job.

Abu-Assad’s approach to this is anything but straightforward. One of the film’s jaw-dropping moments come as the two men are recording their “martyr videos” for a video camera, talking about the glory of Allah as they wave their AK-47s in the air. Khaled finishes his emotional statement, then asks, “How was it?” Unfortunately, the camera jammed. Banal events such as this puncture the deadly ideas behind the story.

“Paradise Now” doesn’t pretend to be unbiased, although it certainly doesn’t come out in favor of terrorism. The characters speak of the Israeli presence in the West Bank with bitterness, and there’s no real argument representing the other side.

Abu-Assad’s intent seems to be to humanize the bombers (not an easy task, since visions of Sept. 11 will pass through your mind as you watch). That’s different from asking us to sympathize with them. “You’re not justifying the action,” he has said of his approach. “You’re describing it as it is.”

The very ending lets down this approach, and left me unsatisfied. But the rest of the picture is tough and bracing.

Kais Nashif (left) and Ali Suliman in “Paradise Now.”