Shot on location in both Palestine and Israel, PARADISE NOW is an enthralling drama about the possible motivations and actions of two suicide bombers. Director Hany Abu-Assad meticulously researched the subject before co-authoring the script with colleague Bero Beyer, and fought off a few armed Palestinians in Nablus, which is where the bulk of the film`s shooting took place. The story follows two young Palestinian men, Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), whose lives in the West Bank city have ground to a halt. But when a shadowy figure named Jamal (Amer Hlehel) offers them a shot at martyrdom by carrying out a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, the two men`s lives are suddenly invigorated. The film follows their final days, as they grapple with their consciences, visit family and friends--and in Said`s case, a young woman he has been flirting with--and prepare for the attack. But they find both practical and emotional issues stand in their way, leading to an anguished and entirely moving finale to Abu-Assad`s film.The difficult production of PARADISE NOW saw crew members abandoning the set amid fears for their lives, location manager Hassan Titi getting kidnapped, a land mine exploding 300 meters away from the set, and Prime Minister Yasser Arafat stepping in to aid the film. Although the subject matter is bleak, Abu-Assad pulls off a masterstroke by lacing the script with black humor, even having the two men nervously joke around as they film their farewell speeches to their families. But ultimately the movie offers a compelling portrait of two men driven to extremes by their beliefs, and examines all the anxieties inherent in such a decision as the one taken with alarming regularity by Palestinian men such as Said and Khaled.
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