Humane portrayal of Palestinian suicide bombers screens at Berlin Film Fest
AFP
Date: 02-14-05
BERLIN (AFP) - A portrayal of Palestinian suicide bombers as complex and conflicted people driven to their deadly deed by the Israeli occupation premiered in an unflinching film at the Berlinale.
"Paradise Now," shot almost entirely in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, follows the two longtime friends, Kais Nashef as Said and Ali Suliman as Khaled, as they prepare and set out for their attack in Tel Aviv.
But gradually, the young men change their minds.
"They are human, whether you like it or not, even the suicide bombers are human. They make extreme decisions in an extreme situation," Palestinian-born director Hany Abu-Assad told AFP in an interview.
The Berlin audience warmly applauded the controversial movie, screening in competition at the festival for the Golden and Silver Bear awards. Six days before the honors are handed out there is no clear favorite.
"This is reality, this is what life is like under occupation. We didn't need to do much acting," Ashraf Barhoum, chilling as Abu-Karem, the mastermind behind the planned attack on Israeli soldiers, told a news conference through a translator.
Abu-Assad (who directed the 2002 film "Rana's Wedding") said he intentionally chose Nablus, picking mostly actors from there. Often, the crew had to interrupt work because of shooting or even missile attacks.
"The concept of the film was to make fiction in a 100 percent reality," he said. "To shoot in the place while it's happening ... this is why it looked so authentic, but at the same time it's a film."
The director, whose film already has distributors in several European countries, among them France, Italy and Spain, is keen to see the movie shown in Middle Eastern theaters, particularly in Israel.
"I think it's very important that the Israelis see it," he told reporters, stressing that he by no means condones suicide attacks. "They have to see it because it is part of their narrative, part of their tragedy."
"Paradise Now" has already taken the first step towards screening there. The state-backed Israeli Film Fund announced here it would support the film with advertising, but only if it secures a distributor.
"They might give us the money, but we still have to find the theaters. We can find ourselves with pockets packed with dollars but no theaters to show the film," Israeli co-producer Amir Harel said.
The movie includes the filming of the traditional video in which the would-be "martyrs" explain why they are sacrificing themselves in the armed struggle against occupation, and a scene in which the men are wired up as human bombs.
Barhoum said everyone felt the film hit very close to home.
"People were crying when Khaled was reading his last will and testament" to the video camera, he said.
The would-be attack is thwarted when a military patrol arrives after the two slip through a cut fence between the West Bank and Israel, and they are separated. Only Khaled returns to the base, while Said, explosives still strapped to his chest, disappears.
Suha (French actress Lubna Azabal in a convincing outing), a Palestinian woman attracted to Said, joins Khaled on the wild hunt for Said. Said still wants to avenge his dead father, executed when he was 10 for collaborating with the Israelis.
"If we can't live as equals, at least we can die as equals," Khaled screams at her. "In this life, we're all dead."
But Suha spits back "We kill and are killed, and nothing ever changes."
Abu-Assad co-wrote "Paradise Now," which also has Palestinian, Dutch, French and German producers -- basing his tale upon interrogation transcripts of failed suicide bombers, along with friends and families of attackers who died.
But humor also figures in what would appear to be a very heavy tale -- the video camera breaks down twice as Khaled is reciting his suicide manifesto, and when it finally works he looks up to see several people chewing on pita bread on the other side of the camera.
The 55th Berlinale, second only to Cannes and equal to Venice on the global film festival circuit, runs through the 20th of February.
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