Hany Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now"

When the movie began, and we were introduced to Said and Khaled, I didn’t even realize that they were the two young men who were to become suicide bombers. As far as I could tell at that point, they were just two young, semi-westernized Palestinian men working in an auto repair shop. It soon settled on me that these two had signed up to kill others and themselves, and I was shocked.

"Paradise Now" is controversial to say the least, and it has caused controversy on every side of the debate. Palestinian militants are decrying it because, they say, “This movie doesn’t help the Palestinian cause... People who go to carry out bombings do not hesitate so much.”

Arab-American peace activist Nonie Darwish, said “Paradise Now” “did not show the evils of terrorism enough.”
“Any one of us could be a victim of terror at any time,” she said. “Islamic terror has become an epidemic. We don’t need to understand it. We don’t need to excuse it ... No more. We need to end it.”

Obviously, telling such a story will make you more enemies than friends.

The film won an Academy Award, and there was controversy as to whether it should have even been nominated, much less whether it should have won. I fail to see why such an amazing film doesn't deserve an award. As a film it excels, and as a study of the conflict, we get to see the human side of a situation that is often dealt with on a very emotionally-driven and illogical manner. Whether the film really condones terrorism or talks down to Palestinians or what have you is up for grabs, but one thing that is for sure is that this film is well-made, gloriously-acted, and deserved the award it got.