Paradise Now

What it is the price of dignity? Paradise Now follows lifelong friends Said and Khaled, two young Palestinians who've been chosen with the dubious honor of becoming martyrs to the cause of an activist faction carrying out a suicide mission in Tel Aviv. In one of the most compelling and well-wrought films I've seen in quite some time, director Hany Abu-Assad presents the humanity and horror of the contemporary status of the widening rift between the Palestinians and the state of Israel with knowing honesty and sensitivity. The photography is gorgeous, the acting is superb, the writing is concise, intelligent and convincing. I can't imagine a more appropriate or timely film for this conflicted moment in time.

4 out of 5 stars