Paradise Now

This film by a Palestinian filmmaker working in the Netherland offers at least a partial answer to a burning issue: who are suicide bombers and what are their motives? Friends from childhood, Said and Khaled live in Nábulus and work in a car repair shop. One evening, they are told that they have been selected as martyrs for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. The young men accept the task as read. They spend the last night with their families who cannot be allowed to find out the truth. In the morning, they undergo the appropriate rituals at headquarters, then get through the barbed wire fence into Israeli territory. The operation is unexpectedly foiled, however, but they still have time to consider whether or not to go ahead. A girl called Suha plays an important role; she has lived abroad for a long time and affirms that there are other ways to resolve the difficult situation of the Palestinians than by murdering innocent people. The film strives for objectivity and simple realism, thus all the more palpable is the tragic dilemma of a divided land and its people. (source: Catalogue 40th Karlovy Vary IFF)