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(2005)

Directed by Hany Abu-Assad

Screenplay by Hany Abu-Assad and Bero Beyer

Actors:

KAIS NASHEF

ALI SULIMAN

LUBNA AZABAL

AMER HLEHEL

HIAM ABBASS

ASHRAF BARHOUM

One of the most enjoyable aspects of attending a film festival is being touted on which movies to see by friends, colleagues, and perfect strangers you chance to meet. At the Telluride Film Festival in 2005, my wife and I read the description of Paradise Now and decided it sounded too grim. Then a friend we trust took us aside and said, “You simply must see it.” My wife said, “I’m Jewish, and this was made by a Palestinian director. Is it just going to upset me?” He said, “No. Give it a try.” We did, and two hours later we were proselytizing to our friends to see it, too.

Paradise Now went on to earn an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign Language Film, and won an Independent Spirit Award, but people didn’t go out to see it. I understand: it’s a story about two suicide bombers, and that isn’t exactly inviting. But the old truism about not judging a book by its cover definitely applies in this case.

Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad isn’t a propagandist; he’s a humanist who tells a moving story of two young men who think they’re doing the right thing, until fate forces them to think again. As the clock runs down, the tension grows in this expertly crafted drama.

The story begins in the West Bank of Palestine, where two lifelong friends, Said and Khaled, are persuaded by a dedicated group of extremists to volunteer to make a suicide run to Tel-Aviv. For their own safety and the well-being of the mission, they cannot know when it will take place until the last minute. Then, one day, they receive the word: it is time to prepare. They are shaved and outfitted with black suits, the better to pass themselves off as Jewish settlers on their way to a wedding. They videotape messages of martyrdom. They say good-bye to family and friends without actually saying good-bye. Then rounds of high explosives are taped to their bodies.

But as they make their way across the border something goes wrong and they are separated. What will happen now? Can the mission be saved? And what happens if they have second thoughts?

A great movie can engage and entertain you while making you think, and that’s what Abu-Assad achieves in this remarkable movie, which he wrote with Bero Beyer. They create nail-biting suspense by setting their plot in a specific time frame, with the clock (almost literally) ticking, but they still take the time to flesh out their characters and give them three dimensions, even a sense of humor.

What struck me most about the movie is its sure-footed storytelling. What’s more, when I spoke to Abu-Asad in Telluride he told me that he was tired of seeing low-budget films made on digital video with jerky, handheld camera work, so he set out to make a contemporary film in a traditional way. The camera work is solid and traditional, and the results are exemplary. Paradise Now is a great movie that will stay with me for many years to come.

105. PETER’S FRIENDS

(1992)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Screenplay by Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman

Actors:

KENNETH BRANAGH

EMMA THOMPSON

RITA RUDNER

STEPHEN FRY

HUGH LAURIE

IMELDA STAUNTON

ALPHONSIA EMMANUEL

TONY SLATTERY

ALEX LOWE

RICHARD BRIERS

PHYLLIDA LAW

There’s something about the concept of a reunion that automatically triggers a series of emotions in all of us. We have wistful thoughts of what might have been, the road not taken, lost love, and so on. No wonder filmmakers love this premise: it’s foolproof.

Some critics complained that Peter’s Friends bore a strong resemblance to The Big Chill, especially with the use of pop music on the sound track, but then, that popular film played very much like John Sayles’s debut feature Return of the Secaucus Seven. No one has a patent on the idea; it’s what you do with it that counts.

The screenplay for Peter’s Friends was written by that clever stand-up comedienne, Rita Rudner, and her husband, Martin Bergman. Even if you don’t think their movie