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Paradise Now, opening in limited release on November 11, is the fictional but true-to-life story of two young Palestinians who ask to be sent together on a suicide-bombing mission in Israel. Saïd and Khaled have been friends forever, and to them, it seems only natural that they would arrange to die together. Languishing in dead-end jobs, they are trapped in limbo, where the future promises only more of the same soul-killing monotony and humiliation.

Director Hany Abu-Assad says the film's title is meant to be ironic

Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, 43, says the film's title is meant to be ironic. Whether the friends truly believe that they will reach paradise is questionable. Their motives are obscure, even to themselves.

Abu-Assad, who has lived in Amsterdam for about 20 years, is a powerful presence, passionate about his subject. He fills the room with his energy and intelligence. In this interview with Christianity Today Movies, he revealed a warm, self-deprecating sense of humor and a disarming generosity of spirit. He holds strong opinions, but he favors discourse and dialogue over pontification and propaganda.

Paradise Now is being released in 45 countries, including Palestine and Israel. For a list of cities showing the film, go to the official website and click "Local Release Dates" at the bottom.

In the U.S., we get a one-dimensional view in our news about Palestine. Suicide bombers are often portrayed as if they were all the same, but your film shows two very different young men.

Hany Abu-Assad: The worst thing you can do in cinema is stereotyping. Why should I watch it? I know it already. It does not allow you to be surprised.

Christians in America are often perceived as solidly pro-Israel. When Palestinians think of American Christians, do they think of them that way, or even that they're anti-Palestinian?

Abu-Assad: Well, first of all, we don't have just one Palestinian. The most rational explanation is that there is an interest between the politics of America and Israel. There's all kinds of interest—military interest, economic interest, strategic interest. When you don't have interests with the Palestinians, then they don't matter. It's really not very hard to understand the Palestinian cause: We were here. Suddenly the Jewish state had to be created. You want to create a Jewish state where there is already somebody else than Jews living—without oppressing them. It's impossible. But when you don't have interests with Palestinians, you don't want to understand.

You moved to Holland as a young man to stay with your uncle.

Abu-Assad: Not to stay with him. He was studying there and he found me a place to study airplane engineering.

Did you work long as an engineer?

Abu-Assad: (Laughs) Two years!

Did you find Holland very accepting to immigrants?

Abu-Assad: Yes. In my experience as an Arab boy living in the state of Israel, there is discrimination everywhere. Even taking a bus there is discrimination. Suddenly you come to Europe and there is not this discrimination. I was so happy with my freedom, that I could take a bus without any problems. I felt how different life could be. At least the Dutch state considered all its citizens as equal individuals.

In America, there's a general belief that suicide bombers are motivated by the promise of going to paradise, where virgins are waiting for them. But in this film, it seemed that religion was almost incidental to Saïd and Khaled.

Abu-Assad: The film is more realistic than what the media would try to make us believe. I believe that religion in general, whether it's Christianity or Judaism or Muslim, tries to do three major things. First of all, to make you a better man. You don't want to do to others the things that you don't want them to do to you. Don't steal because you don't want them to steal from you. Don't lie, because you don't want them to lie to you.

Second, there is a lot of suffering in this life, and religion allows you to accept this suffering. And third, religion allows you to believe there is salvation after this suffering. In all religions people need this to survive. Job had everything, and then God let him suffer. Even if you have suffering, you believe in God. It allows you to like this suffering and become a better man, and also to believe that hereafter there is salvation.

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