Paradise Now (2005)

*shrug* It's decent. I wish I had more to say about this film, but I really don't. It's well-made, and I respect it, but its didacticism drags it down. The filmmakers won't let you forget that this is an Important Film about an Important Issue, and it hamstrings the inherent drama in the premise (two Palestinean guys preparing themselves to be suicide bombers). The two leads do as well as they can with their difficult roles, and they try hard to make the speechifying go down easy. Overall, it's worth a look, and there's a killer final shot; I just wish it concentrated less on being important and more on being good.

Grade: B-