Paradise Now

The film "Paradise Now" gives the viewer a look into the life of an extremist member. I found it interesting that the director chose to base the film on their final days before their death. We find out through certain scenes how and why these two men joined the group. Said talks about his father's death as a collaborator and believes what he is doing is justified. There are times however, when said seems to be second guessing the decision to carry out the plan. When he is waiting at the bus stop for example he had the vision of what would happen and saw the innocent children in the bus and decided not to blow the bus up.

However, a reoccurring theme throughout the film is the reason Said continues to later on carry out the plan and that is the idea of religion in the Middle East. Said and his friend Khaled are just two examples of how religion rules over every other value to some people in the Middle East. They are willing to risk their own safety and the safety in others just to try and balance power? The only things these acts are creating is more death, chaos, and damage to society. It is sad that they believe this is the right thing to do because all of their family members have to deal with the fact someone in their family is responsible for the deaths of others. Some families might seem proud which is disturbing but sadly true, or they were more like Said's mother who you could tell realized what had been transpiring and what he was going to do. She tried to reach out to him multiple times but he never said much in response. I found the relationship between the two to be very sad because of how different they were. She valued family which is why she made the remark of how Said looked like his father. Said on the other hand valued religion and didn't think the value of family was as important. That was the reason for the distance in their relationship. This idea of religion not only affected Said but also affected others around him who cared and loved him deeply.

On a final note, I personally found the ending to be very powerful. Throughout the movie you don't believe Said will pull through with it but at the end when the screen goes to white, you realize that in the end he carried out the plan. I found this to be a much more effective way of showing the action than say showing a view of the bus blowing up like most T.V. shows and films do nowadays. This is a much different approach of ending the film and I thought with the tone of the movie it fit in seamlessly. If it was a movie that had shown a lot of violence throughout then this would not be effective, but for a more serious look with little to no violence it is an effective way to close out the movie. This was the lasting image that I had after watching the movie and the one scene that stuck out throughout the film.

"Paradise Now" has many themes and elements that definitely captures viewers and is an interesting take on the life of an extremist. Through the stories that are told you can see the heartbreak and struggle that these characters live through. And you look at how extremists believe in religion and how it is valued over everything. It is a sad, gritty, and at times depressing film but definitely opens the audiences eyes into a life they no little about.