HONORING ACADEMY NOMINATIONS PAST - PARADISE NOW

Well speaking of Oscars ®, I think it’s an opportune moment to honor past nominees… Paradise Now was among these past nominees, infact it made history – the first Palestinian film to be nominated for an Oscar® (for Best Foreign Picture in 2005). Infact, while we’re on the subject let’s look at Paradise Now’s credentials: The film actually took the 2005 – 2006 awards scene by storm. Apart from the Oscar ® nomination, Official Selection for the Toronto Film Festival and in New York, Blue Angel Award and Golden Bear nomination in the Berlin Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Picture… All these prestigious accolades, could it all be “political”?
Well, it could, but the fact is it isn’t. The Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad has accomplished quite a feat. He has made a completely objective film, about an explosive subject. Oh yeah, you guys will be looking for a synopsis…
Meet Said and Khaled. They are childhood friends and they grew up together in the Gaza strip and they are about to embark on their next project together : becoming suicide bombers… One day they are contacted – they have been selected and they are being sent on the same mission, together, just like they had imagined. They will go to Tel Aviv and blow themselves up, the very next day… But when unexpected developments put the mission off, Said and Khaled get something no one imagined they would get – time to think things over…
When I first read the reviews on this film and saw how everyone said it was “completely objective”, honestly I had a job believing it, for obvious reasons. I was surprised to find out this was actually true. The film is in fact purely psychological and although politics do graze it, it’s marginal at best. And think about it, there are a plethora of emotions to explore. First there is the shock of finding out you are going to die tomorrow (our two friends are “sleeper cells” leading perfectly normal-looking lives). There is the mental preparation for death. Then the shock of finding out you aren’t dying after all. Then there is the moment you stop and ask yourself what on earth you are doing, and why…
Like a lot of my choices, Paradise Now isn’t easy viewing. But it is a completely non-political and objective stare into the depths of the human psyche. Give it a spin – if you don’t mind being stared at that is…