PARADISE NOW

PARADISE NOW
Before the opening credits roll on screen, the distributor has put all of this film’s awards on a card; these have the effect of a critics’ seal of approval. The not-so-subtle message is this: what you are about to see has already been vetted by the film intelligentsia at Berlin, Toronto and Telluride, so think about it what you will; however, it’s beyond your rejection as a film or political statement. This has a profound effect upon the moviegoer as one is forced to decode in advance what was so winning at the film festivals. Was it the plot, the political statements, the presentation of the conflict, or just the acting?
The story centers around two close friends who have a difficult job working at an auto repair shop in the town of Nablus on the West Bank in Palestine. Their employer, irrational customers and looming Israeli roadblocks cramp their existence. Without further ado they are revealed to be a cell of suicide bombers under the control of a Hamas/Jihad/Al Aksa operative and his legendary higher-up. Prepared and outfitted for a suicide mission against the citizens of Tel Aviv, they are sent out to a boarder crossing and the plan fails at the outset. This failure sets in motion changes of heart within each bomber to varying degrees, and familiar strife as well as panic within the terrorist organization. A potential love interest named Suha (Lubna Azabal) emerges in a key role, both to save her object of attraction, and to act as a debating partner as to the merits of blowing up women and children on a bus and its furtherance of the Palestinian cause.
Much has been debated about the moral validity of suicide terror. Much has been debated about the political usefulness of suicide terror. Much has been debated about the military effectiveness of suicide terror. We will not add to that debate here. However, the film has scenes and dialogue that offer a fascinating window into the new realities of Palestinian thought. We can be thankful to the filmmakers for exposing these thoughts and concepts to a wider audience.
A group of 12- to 15-year-olds is credited with starting the first intifada by throwing stones at Israeli soldiers in Gaza. The youth of the occupied territories have always played a huge role in confronting the Israelis, with their unequal levels of weapons. This theme is explored in Paradise Now many times. The dialogue of Said and Khaled, the potential martyrs, is full of references to the superior weaponry of the Israelis, and in case you miss the point, out of nowhere visuals of tanks and jets are inserted for effect. But the real revelation and seemingly unintentional message of the film is the complete historical vacuum they themselves occupy.
In Iran the vast majority of the population was not alive when the hated Shah ruled. Similarly, in occupied Palestine the majority of the population was not alive when the combined multi-nation Arab armies invaded in 1967. To our would-be bombers Khaled and Said, the occupation seems to be a naturally occurring fact on the ground. Hany Abu-Assad, the director, presents the roadblocks that try to prevent the very bombings that are being planned as if they were set up out of pique. If one does not know why the Israelis seized the West Bank and Gaza (they were invasion routes the Arab armies used to try to destroy the U.N.-sanctioned nation that had existed for 19 years) a cinema viewer might think that someone in the Israeli army just woke up one day and decided to invade a peaceful neighbor on a whim. The debate between Suha, representing the forces of moderation, and her bomber boyfriend is all about tactics; the why of the occupation is never mentioned or examined.
There is a fascinating scene in a car with Suha and Khaled looking for Said as he is still wired to explode. They have a debate as to the moral and tactical advantages of the various forms of resistance and their effect upon the struggle. Suha believes that the use of self-destruction accomplishes nothing and in fact allows the Israelis to be both “the aggressor and the victim.” She does not believe that it is an effective tool in the arsenal of war. Khaled argues that it is all they have, and that since they have been so defeated anything is better than nothing, or thoughts to that effect. Never in this or any other scene in the movie does anyone say, “Look, the Arabs have tried to destroy the Jewish people three times in the last 57 years, to annihilate them and drive them into the sea. In this war for a historical homeland of a people older than us, they fought back bravely and won against our intended slaughter, and never has any one of our leaders apologized or asked for peace or accepted their right to exist. Instead, all we have done is launch a campaign of murder against athletes and cripples and bus riders. Is this a way to regain a country that never really existed anyway?”
To Palestinian youth, one of the legacies bequeathed to them by their ineffectual terrorist-tactic-using leaders is not only an occupied homeland but a case of mass amnesia as to why their fate is one of impoverishment and failure. Paradise Now vividly demonstrates how those who are lacking historical knowledge cause wars, like the one between the Irish Protestants and Catholics, which go on and on. The roadblocks and ruined buildings of Nablus become the only context; their reality is the reality of oppression without meaning. Without context the Israeli soldiers and their civilian backers must seem malicious and evil to the bombers the same way the ranting and raving of Iranian revolutionary guards against the “great Satan” must seem odd and strange to a 15-year-old who knows nothing of the Shah. In a sense, by refusing to make peace with Israel the old guard of Palestinian leaders have insured themselves of victory: the war they wanted will be continued by a younger generation aware only of the present. To fight against Zionist oppressors who appear to be just that does make for effective fighters. We can see that in both Gaza and the West Bank, where attending funerals of assassinated suicide bombers seems like the highlight of the week. The only problem is that if the other side is stronger and is just as ruthless, the fight becomes one of hate without political, strategic or geographical context. It is this realization on the Israelis’ part that is behind the separation barrier currently disfiguring the landscape between the two peoples.
The resort to savagery and slaughter of children and old people on buses and in cafés and schools has left the impression on the Israelis that this is just a pogrom. An opportunity to kill Jews. Paradise Now does nothing to change that impression: there is absolutely no talk of recognizing Israel’s sovereignty, of an apology for attacking a lawful country within its sanctioned legitimate borders, of a post-occupation plan for rebuilding the two entwined countries, nor is there any discussion of how two people linked for centuries can co-exist; there is only talk of revenge and “operations.”
Go see Paradise Now because it’s vitally important to understand the other side and see into their minds and understand where they are coming from. Since it’s more than they would do for us, this knowledge will be useful.