This challenging movie starts quite ordinarily. Suha, an attractive, French-born, educated Palestinian woman, who is also the daughter of a revered human-rights leader, returns to seek her true identity. Bringing her car to the garage, she meets young auto-mechanic Said and they develop a mutual attraction. Said, together with a life-long buddy Khaled, however, have been chosen to be the next suicide "human bombs", and will sneak into Tel Aviv the following day to carry out the mission. The movie depicts the events that takes place within 48 hours, essentially from Said's perspective.
Not having had the experience of being a terrorist bomber does not preclude the audience from experiencing empathy with Said. Many of them would have experienced leaving home to go abroad for study, which could mean going away for a long time, or immigrating to a different country (or continent), which would mean going away for an even longer time. Many will recall that last night before departure, the saying goodbye to family and friends, an emotion that is only too well reflected in songs such as "Leaving on a jet plane" or "Harbour light".
In some ways, Said's experience in that last night is similar. While he is telling everybody that he is going to Israel to work, he knows that he will not come back. Taciturn as he is, his internal grieve becomes palpable when he says goodbye to his mother. And then, at 4 a.m., he drops by Suha's place to return the car key to her. This empathizing with our own experience may blur a difference of utmost importance, that he is not going to study or find work, but to kill a lot of people, and himself together with them.
The movie humanizes terrorist bombers, but does it proffer a case of defense for them? Not necessarily. How close is the depiction of Said and Khaled to an average terrorist bomber I'm afraid we will never know. But it's certainly a question of common sense to believe that they are not stereotyped human robots programmed to execute certain instructions. Both men have a cause, and the movie shows that in considerable detail. Both also have their doubts, and the different nature and intensity of their doubts eventually take them on to different paths. And then, we have Suha, the voice of reason. In Jamal, the agent and contact man who sends these two on the mission, we see a sly, unscrupulous but deceptively amiable persona that draws both detestation and horror at the same time. Tackling a grave subject matter from a most risky angle, the Palestinians', this movie does provide balanced perspectives.
Not having had the experience of being a terrorist bomber does not preclude the audience from experiencing empathy with Said. Many of them would have experienced leaving home to go abroad for study, which could mean going away for a long time, or immigrating to a different country (or continent), which would mean going away for an even longer time. Many will recall that last night before departure, the saying goodbye to family and friends, an emotion that is only too well reflected in songs such as "Leaving on a jet plane" or "Harbour light".
In some ways, Said's experience in that last night is similar. While he is telling everybody that he is going to Israel to work, he knows that he will not come back. Taciturn as he is, his internal grieve becomes palpable when he says goodbye to his mother. And then, at 4 a.m., he drops by Suha's place to return the car key to her. This empathizing with our own experience may blur a difference of utmost importance, that he is not going to study or find work, but to kill a lot of people, and himself together with them.
The movie humanizes terrorist bombers, but does it proffer a case of defense for them? Not necessarily. How close is the depiction of Said and Khaled to an average terrorist bomber I'm afraid we will never know. But it's certainly a question of common sense to believe that they are not stereotyped human robots programmed to execute certain instructions. Both men have a cause, and the movie shows that in considerable detail. Both also have their doubts, and the different nature and intensity of their doubts eventually take them on to different paths. And then, we have Suha, the voice of reason. In Jamal, the agent and contact man who sends these two on the mission, we see a sly, unscrupulous but deceptively amiable persona that draws both detestation and horror at the same time. Tackling a grave subject matter from a most risky angle, the Palestinians', this movie does provide balanced perspectives.