News and Commentary on Arab Women, Palestine, Cultural Politics, and Everything in Between
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Saturday, April 08, 2006
Post Oscar Interview
An interview with the Palestinian director Hani Abu Assad about the reception of "Paradise Now." (in Arabic)
I just saw the film, which is out on DVD. I'm still thinking about it. I'll post later.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I didn’t like it. I was not expecting propaganda, but this almost made it seem that Palestinians are committing these acts(regardless of whether you agree with them or not) in some political vacuum. The Israeli occupation was almost absent, your only aware of it at the beginning when that Moroccan girl goes through kalandia. I’ve been through kalandia and I don’t remember Israeli soldiers being that benign. Speaking of the Moroccan girl, what was the point? Is it that Palestinians inside of Palestine can’t be critical of suicide bombings and so they needed someone almost from the outside? My other problem with the movie was that said the main character and the one who would ultimately go through with it, is only motivated by trying to make up for his father’s betrayal by being a collaborator.
I had a similar thought about the representation of the occupation, but I wouldn't call it a political vacuum. He wanted the film to stay focused and to have more direct visual representations of the occupation will make it about that and not suicide bombings, which is what he wanted the movie to be about.
the woman was irritating but not because she was a returnee. her accent drove me nuts. as to your question why we need her, you answer it. Yes, there werent' many voices speaking out publicly against suicide bombings because it's hard for them to do that on so many levels. She had some distance. Also her outsider position made her perspective less reliable, I think. Remember the scene when she had the conversation about films and genre. She's out of it and he had to tell her that only time he's been to a cinema was to burn it. That experience is alien to her but it's his experience.
as to your last point, he wasn't only motivated by his personal experience and history. But that was one of the motivation. And I thought that was done well. I think he succeeded in giving him a complex motivation that didn't fall in either the nationalist or the Israeli security discourse.
I have more to say about it but I'll stop for now.
2 comments:
I didn’t like it. I was not expecting propaganda, but this almost made it seem that Palestinians are committing these acts(regardless of whether you agree with them or not) in some political vacuum. The Israeli occupation was almost absent, your only aware of it at the beginning when that Moroccan girl goes through kalandia. I’ve been through kalandia and I don’t remember Israeli soldiers being that benign. Speaking of the Moroccan girl, what was the point? Is it that Palestinians inside of Palestine can’t be critical of suicide bombings and so they needed someone almost from the outside?
My other problem with the movie was that said the main character and the one who would ultimately go through with it, is only motivated by trying to make up for his father’s betrayal by being a collaborator.
I'm still thinking about it. It's simmering.
I had a similar thought about the representation of the occupation, but I wouldn't call it a political vacuum. He wanted the film to stay focused and to have more direct visual representations of the occupation will make it about that and not suicide bombings, which is what he wanted the movie to be about.
the woman was irritating but not because she was a returnee. her accent drove me nuts. as to your question why we need her, you answer it. Yes, there werent' many voices speaking out publicly against suicide bombings because it's hard for them to do that on so many levels. She had some distance. Also her outsider position made her perspective less reliable, I think. Remember the scene when she had the conversation about films and genre. She's out of it and he had to tell her that only time he's been to a cinema was to burn it. That experience is alien to her but it's his experience.
as to your last point, he wasn't only motivated by his personal experience and history. But that was one of the motivation. And I thought that was done well. I think he succeeded in giving him a complex motivation that didn't fall in either the nationalist or the Israeli security discourse.
I have more to say about it but I'll stop for now.
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