Mission almost impossible

Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad made a marvellous film called Rana's Wedding in 2002. It almost perfectly encapsulated the misery of those trying to lead ordinary lives in the West Bank. His latest, Paradise Now, is not quite so good, though its subject is of the utmost importance.

It tells the story of best friends Said (Kais Nashef) and Khalid (Ali Suliman), two would-be suicide bombers who are chosen to carry out a mission in Tel Aviv.

Said holds the occupation responsible for his father's death; Kahlid also loathes the Israelis, but harbours doubts about the efficacy of the act he is about to perform.

The film dares to paint these two as ordinary men with doubts and fears like the rest of us. While fundamentalism is alien to the pair of them, hatred and bitterness towards the enemy are not.

The young men, first shown working and chatting to each other at a local garage to the sound of distant gunfire, are shorn of their beards and long hair and have explosive devices attached around their bodies.

They are now ready-made martyrs waiting to be taken to the border after saying farewell to their friends and relatives. Once they make it into Israeli occupied territory, things start to go wrong and they waver. Their mission seems likely to be aborted.

Abu-Assad filmed largely on location in and around the West Bank town of Nablus, where the crew was often caught in the crossfire between the Israeli army and Palestinian militias. Not surprisingly, things don't always hang together as well as they might on screen.

This, however, can be the only criticism, since it is plain that Abu-Assad is not a propagandist for terrorism. His film is compassionate, understanding and avoids didactic moralising.

Nevertheless, when it was nominated for this year's best foreign film Oscar, a campaign was mounted against it by Israeli and American critics who attacked it for humanising the terrorists. Some Palestinians have also complained the protagonists are not heroic enough.

At one point, Khalid records his last will and testament, AK-47 held aloft. But a malfunctioning video camera and militants noisily munching sandwiches in the background disturb the gravity of the proceedings.