Paradise Now

When a story comes along that grabs you and tells you something about the world around that you that you've never known before, it turns into something that you have to tell people about. That is how I feel about this movie; it deals with a subject that we've all become aware of over recent years. Suicide bombers have become commonplace on the news but here for the first time we're given a chance to see how some of them may feel about the sacrifice that they are about to make. Even though this is a story, we are given a brief glimpse into the lives of the Palestinian people and the hardships that they deal with on a daily basis, this film opens a whole new door for anyone who has ever wondered what it is like there.
Two young Palestinian men have been chosen to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, but as the mission begins they become separated and each must decide whether to continue or go back. This story is very straightforward, you know who your main characters are and the reasons for their actions, but as the two men's personal stories start to unfold, feelings and personal backgrounds begin to make the outcome of the mission questionable. The flow of the movie is kept going by the fact that you truly don't know what will be coming next, every time you turn a corner with the characters it's a new experience for you as well as them. Not having a true end to the story has become the norm for independent films and as time has gone on these endings have become stale, but the realism of this story slaps you in the face right up until the very end which works here to a tee.
None us will truly know what goes on in the mind of a suicide bomber, but this film gives us a glimpse into some of the reasons why they are so driven in their belief. I was totally mesmerized by this film to see these two young men have no other alternative but to blow themselves, and whoever's around them, up is more than a little disconcerting. But the examination of who these men are and the beliefs that they have is very well done and you end up walking away with a little bit more of an understanding of how they think and why they believe that there is no other way to get what they want.