Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

i must have seen a different film!!

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Paradise Now was an eye-opening movie. It was really interesting to see the life of a suicide bomber. It definitely was different from what I've perceived most suicide bombers to be like. Though, the conflict in the Palestine territories is different then most of the terrorist suicide bombing that occurs with radical groups such as ISIS. I thought the direction of the movie was well placed and the actors made brilliant choices. I honestly did not expect Said to be the one who kills himself. He seemed to have more to live for than his friend, with a potential girlfriend, a job, and a loving family. It was also interesting seeing all of the military checkpoints and learning about how all of the territories are split up. It seems very ineffective in the grand scheme of things, but it was made that way for a reason. I thought the movie did a good job on allowing the viewers to look into the lives of the bomber, while allowing him to remain humane.

So, I thought this movie was great for the most part. I thought it looked at a very edgy topic that is not talked about all too often and I thought it brought an interesting point of view for western viewers such as Americans and Europeans. I also thought it was cool that the movie tried its best to stay accurate and serious but at the same time still had a few funny moments here and there. The one thing that bothers me though is that it seems to be one sided, though the director says he was keeping an open view on this topic, I just feel we didn't get the whole background of it. I know a lot of people will not like that I feel this way but the movie , in my personal opinion, seemed to be promoting terrorism more than a "freedom fighter" movement. This just really got on my nerves a little bit and I understand nationalism, but I feel that what the Palestinians are doing is more of a terrorist act than a revolutionary act. With that being said though, I still thought the movie was good and interesting, it kept the viewer on the edge of their seats and kept them wanting more. I would totally recommend this to a friend if they were looking for a movie of this genre. 8/10

Life turns violent when Said and Khaled, who are best friends, get recruited by a terrorist group to bomb Israel because of past conflict. However, their mission is almost spoiled after one of the men gets separated from the other, but after complications they reunite, only to find that Khaled has had a change of heart. He tries to get his friend to come back home with him and to not kill, but Said has his mind made up, and goes for it. Overall, I thought that the storyline to this movie was clever and interesting. However, I didn't really like it because it was super confusing and (in my opinion) unclear at times. I found myself really lost as to who was who, and what was going on. Part of this may be because Khaled and Said switched opinions so fast and spontaneously. For example, Khaled was very on board to carry out the terrorist attack on Tel Aviv, when Said was not. Then suddenly, Khaled had a change of heart and decided to not go through with it, and Said became so caught up and focused on it, he did end up going through with it even though he had to do it alone! I wish that this film was a little different in the sense that it was more lucid. I found that I also had to focus a lot on the dialogue, because this was one of those films that if you miss something, you miss a lot and will end up confused. My favorite character was Suha because she seemed to be the most level- headed out of all the characters. After all, she was the one who ended up convincing Khaled not to attack, and her points that she made about being "equal" were so so true and valid even in real life when it comes to terrorism and bad things people do. Towards the end, I liked Said less and less as I started to like Khaled more and more, because (I think) Said ended up attacking Tel Aviv, and Khaled did the right thing to just go home.

On seeing this film a second time, I found it more powerful and more disturbing. I had read the script, and pictured the two leads played by much younger people, which I imagined would give the film a deep sense of innocent tragedy and loss. So I was disappointed when I first saw the finished project. But as is so often the case, that's not a fair way to judge a film, and with the passage of time, I could appreciate it for the excellent, intelligent, emotionally and morally complex and challenging film it is. Any film that can make suicide bombers 'human', without justifying their actions, or can really make you understand the roots of violence and terrorism without condoning it is an important film for the modern world.