Stars:
Kais Nashef,
Lubna Azabel,
Amer Hiehel,
Ali Suliman
Director:
Hany Abu-Assad
Summary: PARADISE NOW follows the fate of two Palestinian would-be terrorists who have been recruited for a strike on Tel Aviv. When an unforeseen complication arises at the eleventh hour, they are forced to reconsider their plans.
PARADISE NOW focuses on the final days of two Palestinian terrorists as they prepare to carry out a homicide bombing mission in Tel Aviv. When childhood friends Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are offered a shot at 'martyrdom', they feel a renewed sense of purpose in serving their people's cause. Groomed by a shadowy figure named Jamal (Amer Hlehel), the young men go about the grim task of tying up loose ends and saying their final farewells. However, all does not go according to plan when, on the day of the attack, they are intercepted at the Israeli border and separated from their handlers. A young Palestinian woman learns of their plan and implores them to reconsider their actions. Shot on location in both the Palestinian territories and Israel, PARADISE NOW is a highly controversial drama about the possible motivations and actions of two homicide bombers. The film's difficult production saw crew members abandoning the set amid fears for their lives, location manager Hassan Titi getting kidnapped, a land mine exploding 300 meters away from the set, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat stepping in to aid the filmmakers. Director Hany Abu-Assad has tempered the script's bleak subject matter with black humour, even having the two men nervously joke around as they film their farewell speeches to their families. But ultimately the movie seeks to examine the mindset of people capable of such acts of barbarity, as well as the inherent anxieties they face.