PREMIER MOVIE REVIEWS - Paradise Now (2005)

HOMEPAGE   -   RECENT DVD RELEASES   -   RECENT CINEMA RELEASES   -   THE ARCHIVES   -   LINKS

Paradise Now (2005)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Director: Hany Abu-Assad

Certificate: Paradise Now was rated 12A by the Irish Film Censor's Office (www.ifco.ie) i.e. suitable for those of 12 years of age or upwards.  Person under 12 years must be accompanied by an adult.

Violence = moderate. Drugs = mild. Sex/Nudity = none. Language = moderate.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: Paradise Now

  Plot Summary & Review

Not a film that makes for comfortable watching due to the current climate of global terrorism.  However, it's an unusual, fairly down beat but nonetheless absorbing, tale of two childhood Palestinian friends Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) who have been chosen  to go to Tel Aviv as suicide bombers and are given twenty four hours notice.

Paradise Now
Buy at AllPosters.com

The film in essence doesn't make huge political statements or judgments but covers a 48 hour period when the two men spend their last night with their families (unable to tell them of their impending fate), are then shaved  (to include most of their bodily hair) and  put into ultra smart black suits with bombs strapped to their chests.

The first attempt has to be aborted due to an unexpected turn of events and the two men get temporarily separated before being re-united for a second attempt.

There then follows some stark images of the West Bank, and the two accomplices set against the backdrop in their black suits make for eerie visuals, almost as if they are going to their own funerals which of course in essence they are.

They do all this without any question or fear seeing martyrdom as a means to eternal peace and rest.  The only real female Suha (Lubna Azabal) is the one voice of reason as she advocates peace rather then terrorism but is engulfed and swamped by a wave of extremism.

Very much told from the human perspective and sensitively acted throughout it's an emotional rollercoaster with a powerful message.  It won't suit everyone, but it's a very worthwhile piece of work and will certainly leave you questioning the politics of the Middle East and the thinking behind the conflict.

In a word: Absorbing.

Reviewed by Mary Kate, Premier Movie Reviews 2007

Main Cast

Kais Nashif

Lotuf Neusser

Ali Suliman

Lubna Azabel

Hamza Abu-Aiaash

RATING

WORTH A WATCH

HOMEPAGE   -   RECENT DVD RELEASES   -   RECENT CINEMA RELEASES   -   THE ARCHIVES   -   LINKS