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Terrorists are protagonists in 'Paradise Now'

Many people would rather not see terrorists humanized, preferring to think of them as crazed monsters who willingly waste their lives for the implied promise of entry to a heaven where virgins await their every need. Those moviegoers would not want to know Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), two Palestinian garage mechanics enlisted to cross into Israel from the West Bank on assignment as suicide bombers.

Warner Independent Pictures 'Paradise Now' B+ The verdict: A look at terrorism from the inside, following a fictional suicide bombing case that goes wrong. Director: Hany Abu-Assad Starring: Lubna Azabel, Amer Hiehel, Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman Run time: 90 minutes Release date: Oct. 28, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material and brief strong language. Language Arabic with English subtitles See showtimes On the web Official movie site Rate 'Paradise Now'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Hardly fanatics, they calmly accept their task and prepare methodically, but things go very wrong for them in Paradise Now, a new low-key thriller that forces us to identify with these two and even root for them to escape this predicament of their own making with their lives.

Director Hany Abu-Assad, an Israeli-born Palestinian, asks us to try and understand hot-headed Khaled, who is angered that his people and their land are occupied by the Israelis, who are perceived in the media as victims.

So Khaled is prepared to turn them into victims, with a bomb pack strapped to his body, which he will detonate in downtown Tel Aviv. Said has more personal, less doctrinaire reasons for such violence, and is beginning to be dissuaded by his girlfriend Suha (Lubna Azabal), who believes the path to peace is the end of terrorism.

Not only does their plan go awry soon after they enter Israel, but Said gets cut off and Khaled has to find him and rescue him. In the course of a suspenseful search, the political rhetoric flies about and the two men's resolve to become martyrs begins to waver.

Abu-Assad manages to get us thinking with this timely story wrapped inside the trappings of an action film. If the prevailing mood of the film is pessimistic, it remains an intriguing document of our times and unexpectedly involving viewing.