Paradise Now

Hany Abu-Assad, the director behind "Rana's Wedding," which I loved, has a new film out called "Paradise Now". From the NYT:

The story revolves around two childhood friends, Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), who have dead-end jobs as auto mechanics in Nablus, a West Bank city that has been under Israeli occupation since long before they were born. The only bright spot in Said's life is a pretty young woman, Suha (Lubna Azabal), who brings her car in for repairs and shows interest in a deeper friendship.

Eager to do their bit for the liberation of Palestine, however, Said and Khaled have already volunteered to become suicide bombers. And when Jamal (Amer Hlehel), the contact man for a martyrs' brigade, tells them their moment has come, they are ready. After recording a "martyr's video" and being congratulated by the brigade's leader, they are turned into human bombs and sent on their mission of death.

Things soon go wrong.

Go to the Warner Independent Pictures site and click on "Upcoming Releases" to see the trailer and some pics.

And I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention this: there are some beautiful people in this movie. Paradise now, indeed.