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Aren't about 20 percent of Palestinians Christian?

Abu-Assad: Yes, and they have suffered under the same occupation.

You watched American westerns as a boy, and were taken by the mythical heroes. But you have said that in Palestine the martyrs are real flesh-and-blood people, living now, who are giving up their lives.

Abu-Assad: And this is the idea of a hero everywhere you go, in all the religions. Your interest is less important than the interest of the collective, or than the interest of God. God wants you to fight the devil in you, to become a better man. A hero puts his life below the interests of this challenge.

But can't heroes be heroic in the wrong cause?

Abu-Assad: Yes, for sure, and suicide bombing is in the same rhetoric but in the wrong direction. You put your life as less important than the liberation, but then you kill yourself and others.

You refer to Da Vinci's Last Supper painting in the film, but in a different context. Are you suggesting that the suicide bombers are going to their crucifixion?

Abu-Assad: From their own point of view, yes, because crucifixion is also about redemption, and taking the guilt of others. Saïd wants to take the guilt of his father, who was a collaborator, so it's very dramatic. Also, Da Vinci's painting is lit from above, from God. Mine is lit from a gas lamp.

Tell me more about your early years.

Abu-Assad: I was born in Nazareth. It's kind of funny to be a Muslim born in a Christian city, to be Palestinian in Israel, to come from a wealthy family in a poor society, to be an Arab in the west. Most of my friends were Christians. We just had different holidays: I had Ramadan, they had Christmas. But then you know each other because you are in the same school.

Do you think a film like this is better at showing the situation of the Palestinians than a documentary, because you can show the emotions?

Abu-Assad: Not better than. Different. Fiction allows you to understand the emotions, but it's not better. You need everything: documentary, fiction, poetry, painting, the media, politics. You need all the information to get a wider view. The higher you go, the more you don't know. Life is too big and too complex for anyone to say, "Now I know."

But in martyrdom, isn't there the hope that you will reach that point of enlightenment?

Abu-Assad: You want to, but by your death.

Movie images copyright © 2005 Warner Independent Pictures. All rights reserved.

© Stefan Ulstein 2005, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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