Paradise Now (2005)

103

NEUTRAL

Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, Microsoft Store, FandangoNOW

90%

PG-13

2005, Drama, 1h 30m

RT Critics’ Score: 89% (UNBIASED)
RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
13 wins & 17 nominations total

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Critics Consensus

This film delves deeply into the minds of suicide bombers, and the result is unsettling.

Audience Consensus

Paradise Now is a movie that will make you feel like you’re seeing something you’ve never seen before, unless you’re Israeli, in which case you might have a different perspective. But for the rest of us, it’s a fascinating and frightening look inside the minds of two terrorists. The film keeps the thorny issues under control and twists and turns until the very end, leaving us guessing as to what the would-be martyrs will do. It’s a timely piece about an excruciating moral dilemma, and definitely worth a watch.

103

Storyline

Palestinians Said and Khaled, now in young adulthood, have been lifelong friends living in Nablus in the West Bank. They have both had what they consider a difficult life, now working side-by-side in unfulfilling jobs as auto mechanics in a small garage, being unfulfilling as difficult as the jobs were to get. Those difficult lives includes feeling like they are prisoners in the West Bank, Said who has only left the region once on a medical issue when he was six. They blame all their problems on the oppression by the Israelis. As such, they have volunteered and have been accepted by a Palestinian resistance group to carry out a suicide bombing mission in Tel Aviv: after the initial response to the first bomb, the second bomb would be detonated at the same site. Following the bombing, the resistance group would release pre-taped video messages of Said and Khaled confessing to the bombing in the name of God. The mission would require Said and Khaled to cross “illegally” into Israel. They are not afraid of death in light of their deaths having some meaning, and in feeling like their lives are like being dead anyway. In the process of carrying out the mission, they end up being separated which could jeopardize not only the mission but their individual lives without their death being in the name of a cause, that is if they cannot locate each other. In this their time apart, Said and Khaled may have time to think about what they are about to do, their thoughts not only shaped by their different family histories, but Said’s budding friendship/romance with a young woman named Suha, the daughter of a wealthy and famed Palestinian, she who has only recently moved back to the West Bank after years living overseas.

Production Company(ies)
Shochiku

Distributor
Warner Independent

Release Type
Theatrical

Filming Location(s)
Nablus, Palestine

MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material and brief strong language

Year of Release
2005

Technical Specs

Color:

Color
Sound mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS
Aspect ratio:

2.35 : 1
Runtime:

1h 30m
Language(s):

Arabic, English
Country of origin:

United States, Israel
Release date:

Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 2005 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 21, 2006

Genre(s)
Drama

Keyword(s)
Paradise Now, PG-13, Drama, 1h 30m, 89% Tomatometer, 87% Audience Score, suicide bombers, terrorism, Palestine, Israel, Arabic, directed by Hany Abu-Assad, written by Hany Abu-Assad and Bero Beyer, starring Ali Suliman as Khaled, Kais Nashif as Said, Lubna Azabal as Suha, Amer Hlehel as Jamal, Hiam Abbass as Said’s mother, Ashraf Barhom as Abu-Karem, produced by Bero Beyer, reviewed by Nigel Andrews, Victoria Segal, Roger Moore, Ken Tucker, Marjorie Baumgarten, Roger Ebert, David Lamble, Mattie Lucas, Hannah Brown, Fernando F Croce, Brandon Fibbs, Chelsea Bain, box office gross USA $1.5M, budget, PG-13 rating, drama genre, Warner Independent distributor

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $3,579,902
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $5,455,711
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,143
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 594,952

US/Canada gross: $1,457,843
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,221,728
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,010
US/Canada opening weekend: $48,023
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $73,186
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,058

Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $2,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $3,047,967
Production budget ranking: 1,974
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,641,330
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $766,414
ROI to date (est.): 16%
ROI ranking: 1,312

Cast & Crew

Kais Nashif

Ali Suliman

Lubna Azabal

Amer Hlehel

Hiam Abbass

Said

Khaled

Suha

Jamal

Said’s mother

Kais Nashif – Said
Ali Suliman – Khaled
Lubna Azabal – Suha
Amer Hlehel – Jamal
Hiam Abbass – Said’s mother
Ashraf Barhom – Abu-Karem

Hany Abu-Assad

Bero Beyer

Director

Writer

Producer

Director(s)
Hany Abu-Assad

Writer(s)
Hany Abu-Assad, Bero Beyer

Producer(s)
Bero Beyer

Film Festivals

Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
13 wins & 17 nominations total

Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees

Top Reviews

Nigel Andrews

Victoria Segal

Roger Moore

Ken Tucker

Marjorie Baumgarten

Financial Times

New Statesman

Orlando Sentinel

New York Magazine/Vulture

Austin Chronicle

PARADISE NOW
All Critics (103) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (92) | Rotten (11)
With inspired judgment and skill, the film embeds its debating points in the trajectory of the story, or humanises them with everyday emotions.

October 7, 2018

Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
… it has the great advantage of letting an audience feel it is seeing things it would otherwise never see.

September 26, 2017

Victoria Segal
New Statesman
TOP CRITIC
… it says more about Middle Eastern politics from the Palestinian side than any movie, period.

January 27, 2006 | Rating: 5/5

Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
… remarkable …

December 9, 2005

Ken Tucker
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
The film continues to twist and turn until the very end, keeping us guessing as to what the would-be martyrs will do.

December 6, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/5

Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Certainly what Said says will not come as a surprise to any Israeli. It’s simply that they disagree. We may disagree, too, and yet watch the film with a fearsome fascination.

December 6, 2005 | Rating: 3/4

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
A timely piece about an excruciating moral dilemma.

May 9, 2020

David Lamble
Bay Area Reporter
So distinctive in mood, tone and perspective that it demands to be noticed.

June 5, 2019 | Rating: 3/4

Mattie Lucas
The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
If you actually see it, you’ll find this look inside the minds of two terrorists both fascinating and frightening.

March 2, 2016

Hannah Brown
Jerusalem Post
The filmmaker keeps the thorny issues under control

September 1, 2009

Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion
Could a more important, relevant and complimentary film to Munich have come out in 2005?

February 28, 2008 | Rating: 8/10

Brandon Fibbs
BrandonFibbs.com
October 21, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4

Chelsea Bain
Boston Herald…

Plot
Palestinians Said and Khaled, now in young adulthood, have been lifelong friends living in Nablus in the West Bank. They have both had what they consider a difficult life, now working side-by-side in unfulfilling jobs as auto mechanics in a small garage, being unfulfilling as difficult as the jobs were to get. Those difficult lives includes feeling like they are prisoners in the West Bank, Said who has only left the region once on a medical issue when he was six. They blame all their problems on the oppression by the Israelis. As such, they have volunteered and have been accepted by a Palestinian resistance group to carry out a suicide bombing mission in Tel Aviv: after the initial response to the first bomb, the second bomb would be detonated at the same site. Following the bombing, the resistance group would release pre-taped video messages of Said and Khaled confessing to the bombing in the name of God. The mission would require Said and Khaled to cross “illegally” into Israel. They are not afraid of death in light of their deaths having some meaning, and in feeling like their lives are like being dead anyway. In the process of carrying out the mission, they end up being separated which could jeopardize not only the mission but their individual lives without their death being in the name of a cause, that is if they cannot locate each other. In this their time apart, Said and Khaled may have time to think about what they are about to do, their thoughts not only shaped by their different family histories, but Said’s budding friendship/romance with a young woman named Suha, the daughter of a wealthy and famed Palestinian, she who has only recently moved back to the West Bank after years living overseas.

Trivia