While I don't claim to be Siskel & Ebert (though come to think of it, I don't always agree with their ratings in the least), here's a film review for all my readers. The movie is an independent film called Paradise Now. We watched it this evening for my international relations class and I was so touched. Not only is it beautiful, it is incredibly thought-provoking. The film takes you out of your paradigm and into a completely foreign one. The setting is the West Bank and the characters are young Palestinian men who want to be a part of the resistance against the Israelis. They are chosen to complete a mission, suicide-bombing a group of Israeli soldiers. Never before have I ever seen suicide-bombing and thought... oh, THAT'S why they do it. It really gives you their perspective, humanizes these men. You can sense the pain,the frustration, the prison-like existance they live in. Things are a lot more complicated than our society makes them, and there are really no clear definitions of right and wrong. It is all a matter of perspective. Moral relativity... who espoused that one? Was it... Hobbes? I think so. This philosophy class is really paying off, huh?
Back to the movie: I just want to talk about one image that really struck me. All of the imagery was moving, but the two cityscapes of the West Bank city and then Tel Aviv were represented in stark contrast. In Palestine, the buildings were bombed out, the streets were dirty, and the people sullen. As sooon as Said and Khaled got to Tel Aviv, the landscape changed dramatically. As they were driving down the street you saw girls in bikinis rollar-blading down the boardwalk, fancy cars, and soaring skyscrapers. While I do not know how much of this imagery was propaganda of sorts, you do have to take into account that the per capita GDP in Israeli is around $26,000 and in Palestine it's around $1500. This is especially unsettling considering they occupy nearly the same land in terms of resources and geography.
Overall, this film really puts the radical Islamic ideology into perspective as well as elucidates some vague nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.
1 comment:
Suicide bombers are bred from poverty and ignorance.
Their parents are honored and respected, their spouses given lots of money, their children showered with gifts and attention.
Who wouldn't give their life to bring wealth and honor to their families, when there is no other way of doing so?
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