If you really want to even come close to comprehending the suffering of the Palestinians who live under Israel’s occupation, you can spend $5 and rent a copy of the newly released film, “Paradise Now.”
Paradise Now won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar, but lost.
There was a big debate about whether the Academy Awards should list the film as being from “Palestine,” which shows you how hard it is for supporters of Israel to make peace with the Palestinians. They can’t even say the word, “Palestine.” Still, critics also claimed the film “glorifies” suicide bombers.
I saw the film this week. It doesn’t. But what it does do is present the people who do engage in suicide bombings for what they really are, human beings driven to the edge of insanity by a situation that should not be allowed to continue.
To show you even more how vicious the conflict is, many video stores won’t even carry it, not just because it is in Arabic with English subtitles, but because of the large and organized opposition movement against it.
The film depicts lives exactly as they are, although sometimes a little too cautiously.
Although made by a Palestinian Israeli filmmaker, Hany Abu-Assad, it skirts controversial things like whether the “wall” is a wall or, as the Israeli spinmeisters prefer, a “fence.”
The Palestinian film also softens its own harsh image. When the recruiter tells two would-be suicide bombers to look for Israeli soldiers, no mention is made of the fact that many innocent Israeli civilians and children have been killed by suicide bombers.
I won’t ruin the plot, but when the 90-minute film is over, you will better understand both sides. You will also hear the Palestinians speak about the atrocities committed against them by the Israeli occupiers and the settlers. There is some humor, not glorifying suicide bombing but humor that comes in the context of human beings who struggle to find hope in hopelessness.
Even if you do rent this film, you might not totally comprehend the problems, some of which go far beyond the focus of the film, suicide bombings.
Israel is confiscating land owned by Palestinians, and prohibiting Palestinian landowners from developing their land, making it worthless for them. Even the wall is being built not on Israeli land or even the 1967 border, but cutting through Palestinian farms, villages and even dividing homes.
The Israelis, who once insisted the wall was just a temporary security measure, now say it will define their new borders. They said the exact same thing about the settlements.
The film also does not address how the American news media discriminates against Palestinians by denying them a voice.
Out of more than 4,500 newspapers in the United States, only a small handful offer a Palestinian perspective, offering balance to a one-sided debate in America that almost exclusively features pro-Israel voices.
It is unjournalistic, but few newspapers are willing to acknowledge it.
Most newspapers, according to studies completed by Palestine Media Watch (www.pmwatch.org) and others, shows that pro-Israel columns are published at a far greater frequency than the occasional column from writers like me. But, the film might at least remind you that the people on both sides of this conflict are human beings. And human beings sometimes do terrible things when their lives are pushed to the wall.
