Paradise Now

To start with, I would like to apologize to my friend, PRC, for keeping him waiting on this review.  Sorry machan... just been either totally swamped or forgetful enough to not get this written up when I did have the time!  :)  

Alright folks, I watched Paradise Now, yet another movie recommended by PRC, about a month ago and was simply blown away by the film.  To put it in one line, the story is based in Palestine and narrates the experiences of a couple of suicide bombers during what would be their last days of life, or would it?!  There is more to this simple story line, I must say, but I wouldn't want to divulge any more details; will let you watch the movie and figure it out.  

Hany Abu-Assad, the director of this film, has managed to capture the emotions of people living through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict admirably well.  Be it the locales, the people, the costumes they wear or the way they converse, you can feel the tension right through the film.  To acheive that sort of consistency in every frame is no mean task and the director needs to be applauded for his effort.  And those stationary frames... ah!  I just love them! 

Kais Nashef and Ali Suliman who play Said and Khaled (the suicide bombers), respectively, have done a splendid job.  I was particularly impressed with Kais Nashef.  He manages to emote a range of feelings without even uttering a single word and does it in such a subtle way that you don't even realize he's actually enacting a scene... a complete natural!  Ali does a good job himself especially in the latter half of the movie.  The other actors do a decent job as well; the most impressive part being the ease with which they fit in to their roles, hand-in-glove types!  It will take a while to detach them from the characters they play in this movie, if at all you end up watching them in any other flick!   

Music... well, again, this is the third movie on the trot that I watched which had almost nothing in terms of background score!  Though I have managed to come to terms with this kind of cinema, I must admit that this transition has taken place with no compromise on my side in terms of feeling the intensity of the films; not one bit, really!  I personally prefer listening to a nice soundtrack along with any movie I watch, but I must say 'silence' has it's own appeal.  You would agree with me after watching this movie!  

The movie's screenplay is simply rivetting, keeping you on the edge of your seats for most part of the second half.  One would expect films with such themes to feaure a lot of preachy stuff bordering on sentimentatility; The Terrorist, for example.  Even though it was a well made film, acting was stereotypical and dialogues were cliched to the core; but trust me.... you wouldn't notice that in Paradise Now.  

Please rent the DVD at your earliest convenience!