The campaign against Paradise. Now.
As mentioned earlier, Palestinian film Paradise Now has attracted a campaign to have its Oscar nomination withdrawn. Yesterday, the three men leading the campaigns sent a 32,000 name petition to Hollywood to demand the film be dropped.
Paradise Now tells the story of two suicide bombers, so it’s not surprising that there is some controversy around the film. And it’s probably inevitable that some people will take offence at it. But the reaction of Yossi Mendellevich seems to go a little further that that.
“Paradise Now is artistic terror. Instead of giving a judgment on such an act, the film contributes to the death industry and the myth of the suicide bombers. By promoting and praising the film as an Oscar nominee, I’m sure the queue to become suicide killers will be much longer. What they call ‘Paradise Now’ is ‘Hell Now’ for us.”
According to one of the film’s producers, Amir Harel, an Israeli, the film promotes dialogue rather than terrorism by encouraging audiences to reflect on what motivates a suicide bomber. He denied it was wrong not to show the consequences of the bombing.
“Everyone knows perfectly well what happens [after a bomb], but we felt at that point there’s no need to tell the story any more. Our purpose as film makers is to tell the story focused on the protagonists’ point of view. I believe it doesn’t undermine in any way the victims. It just doesn’t deal directly with them.
“Whenever there’s a film depicting the Israeli side, no one ever says we should present the Palestinian side. I think balance is totally unimportant to art.”
Thursday 02 Mar 2006 | Paul | Israel, Palestine, USA
