Mujhe barf se lipta Akash bhejna
Jis par koi dhabba na ho
Mein safed shabdon se us par ubharon se
Bhare chitr banaunga
Tumharee aseem
peeda ke
Jis samay main chitr banaun
Tum akash ko hathon mein thame rakhna
Kyonki apne canvas ka tanaav
Mere liye aparichit hai “
Translation: Send me sky, cuddled with snow,
Having no spot on it,
Using white words
I will create embossed pictures on it,
Describing your acute pain
While I create the pictures
You hold the sky in your hands
Paradise Now
View next photo
As tension of my canvass
is unfamiliar for me
I did not give much thought to this when sometime back I read this short verse written by celebrated painter M.F. Hussain. At this instant, after watching the Palestinian movie Paradise Now, I somehow can recount the pain, trauma, and whatever that goes through a mind of suicide bomber who is about to embark on a mission.
Paradise Now is a story of two suicide bombers, Khaled and Sayedchosen for suicide attacks in Israel capital Tel Aviv. The movie in the first few minutes spreads out the basic tidings and goes onto cover their quest till the end.
As shown in Jodha Akbar and in many more war movies that more than the army it is the perceptive of the outlook of your opponent that gives you an edge. And we have been witnessed to many such suicide attacks in war trodden countries, be it Iraq-Iran conflict, Indo-Pak or Israel-Palestine clash. The most common used methodology is suicide bomber. And Paradise Now is one such movie depicting the status of hearts and minds of the bombers. I do not wish to start a debate over whether they are right or not. For that we have NDTV. This is just a movie review and my thoughts.
Khaled(Ali Suliman) and Sayed(Kais Nashef) are childhood friends who work in a garage and their idea of fun is to sip hookah while listening to the radio on a hill top. Life is laid back till they are called upon to be the next suicide bombers. They are to get entry in Tel Aviv and blow up a bus. They both agree. However it is not shown in the movie whether they had any inkling of this or whether they are connected to the planners. The movie takes up the huge portion in showcasing the preparation of the attack about to happen next day and this is when you start getting into the psyche of Khaled and Sayed. They are bathed, shaved, given formal attires laced with bomb jacket. The videos of them are then made wherein they praise Allah, they talk to their families, explain why are they doing this and ask for their blessings.
They enter Israel but within few minutes they had to come back as they get spotted by the Israeli guards on the border. While running back Khaled and Sayed get separated. Khaled comes back to the hide out of the planners while Sayed runs away. Planners scoff at Khaled and give him a day’s time to find Sayed. Meanwhile Sayed decides to go about the mission all alone and almost detonates himself on a crowded bus after re-entering the Israel but for a child. He sees the child and stops himself.
Another part running Parallely is that of Sayed’s love interest Suha(Lubna Azabal). She gets to know of Sayed’s plan and condemns it. Khaled eventually finds Sayed and takes him back to their people but not before Suha tries to convince them from committing this grave crime. After reaching to their people, Sayed asks for another chance, however, Khaled gives into Suha’s talks and decides to cancel the attack. Now he tries to convince Sayed and also follows him till Tel Aviv. Sayed tricks Khaled in believing that he too will cancel the attack. After this the movie is of about five minutes and a climax that will surely make you go in rewind mode. As I had revealed the ending, here I amediting after few of you told me not to reveal the climax. Watch it to know what happens.
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad, Paradise Now leaves you with many questions unanswered but with a deep impact. How far can anyone go for their love? Be it love for your country or for a person. Can you let go of everything else associated with you for the sake of ’just that one’ something? The movie is never predictable, and will keep you on your toes in all frames. It will make you realize how good it is to be free. What is the importance of a life? Many might think that the movie is closing the eyes to the threat of terrorism. It is never so. You no doubt will hate the crime but at the same time you will fall in love with the criminal. Hany has made it so real that you can actually feel how we sometime lose our minds and do something brutal and ruthless.
It can be perceived as a political one or religious one or plain fiction. And it might not be a happy feels type one but the director surely brought out the facets we all choose to ignore. It is upsetting, but indeed brings us closer to the realities of suicide bombing and in the psyche of suicide bombers. And the good thing is it will not let you give a concrete conclusion as in what is right and what is wrong? It will make you ponder for long after you have seen and it is up to you to derive your own conclusions.
The movie no doubt won many awards all over the globe and raised many eye-brows as the movie noticeably showcased the ongoing animosity between the two. I sometimes feel we might have solution to our Indo-Pak conflict but there aren’t any such possibilities in Israel-Palestine case.
In his acceptance speech for the Golden Globe, director Hany made a plea for a Palestinian state, saying he that the Palestinians deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally(From Wikipedia). And I say Amen to that and to many such hopes.
P.S. The title has no relation to the movie of similar name ’The War Within’.