Watched this gripping Arabic movie yesterday. The movie is an work of art that could have very few comparisons. Per the director Hany Abu-Asaad the movie is an artistic point of view of the Israel-Palestine political conflict. I had very little knowledge about the issue but this movie opened up a whole new perspective of any conflict.
“Hey Ram”, the Hindi/Tamil movie had a similar concept. In that movie the protagonist, a victim of the India-Pakistan separation violence plans to revenge Mahatma Gandhi. The handler who prepares him for the task talks to the protagonist’s wife. She asks him how one could justify a wolf killing an innocent child. His answer is “You can understand only if you stand in the wolf’s legs”. How very true. Of course, it still doesn’t justify killings and violence by a human being. It’s very easy for us to dismiss such people as soulless terrorists, bent on destroying humanity. But it’s very difficult to get under their skin and realize the other side of the story.
Coming back to “Paradise Now”, the movie had not a bit of music. Not even during the titles. But that choice has an enormous effect, letting the viewer focus on the gloomy situations. The making of the movie itself seems to have had great difficulties. With an Israeli missile attack near the production location, a kidnap of the production manager by a Palestine faction and so on. The director has said that if he had a choice to go back in time, he’d probably not make the movie again. The climax had me spell-bound for minutes.
Taking this back home to India, we have our share of lasting conflicts. Srilankan tamil woes, Indo-Pak border issues, Separatist groups in North eastern states and the list goes on. I sincerely hope politicians on both sides let go their agendas and strive for a holistic resolution in all these situations. Peace!
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