Religious studies
Most of the events of the movie take place in the crumbling, yet beautiful hilly city of Nablus. Nablus is a city in northern West Bank where Palestinian resistance forces and Israeli security forces exchange gunfire on a regular basis. Nablus is at the heart of Israel- Palestine conflict and Abu-Assad, the director of the movie, was right about shooting the movie in Nablus.
The film focuses closely on the process of recruiting the suicide bombers and the tactics used by terrorist groups to prepare people to carry out the suicide attacks. The film highlights the deception and faulty arguments the handlers of suicide bombers employ to encourage the bombers to carry out the attacks. The handlers appeal to both worldly as well as religious arguments to encourage Khalid and Said to execute the bombing. First, their handlers assure them that their families would be taken care of, that they need not worry about those left behind. The handlers cleverly avoid the subject of emotional pain of those who are left behind, and only focus on the economic benefit the handlers would provide to the families of Said and Khalid. Then, the handlers resort to the exaggerated and false effectiveness of suicide bombing in the political sphere. They assured Khalid and Said that their mission would eventually solve the problem of Palestinian people, that they are sacrificing their lives for a very great cause, and that their sacrifice would not go barren. The handlers ignite their emotions regarding freedom and patriotism, and convince them that there is no other solution to this Israeli problem. Finally, the handlers employ religion to cement the opinion of Khalid and Said about the suicide attack. They told Khalid and Said that after carrying out the attack they would be, directly, taken to the Havens and meet with God. They are told, two angels would come and take them to the paradise where they would live and enjoy till eternity.
In the movie Suha is the voice of reason. She is staunchly against the suicide bombing and she confronts both Khalid and Said when she realizes that they are going to act as suicide bombers. She puts forward very strong arguments against the suicide attacks. In her views, a suicide bomber is not an isolated individual his death influences a whole family. Who is responsible for the sufferings of those who are left behind by the suicide attacker, she argues? She highlights the emotional pain and economic hardships of the families of suicide bombers. But, she does not only highlights the sufferings of families of the bomber her arguments go deeper than that. She also points out the political consequences of the suicide attacks. She challenges the moral and political aspects of suicide bombing. She points out the disastrous ramifications of such an attack. She contends that suicide attacks would lead to no positive results as they would encourage the oppressor toward more oppression, and it would bring the oppressor and the oppressed in the same league. Her arguments hinge upon the point that two wrong does not make a right, and to fight against wrong by employing wrong is no solution. To assume that one or two suicide strikes would solve the problem and would end the conflict is to live in a fool’s paradise.
Throughout the preparation of the attack, it is Khalid that seems more enthusiastic of the two. Said appears to second guess himself and his motives while Khalid remains very energetic through the rituals performed before the attack. It seems he could not wait to explode himself. However, Khalid’s enthusiasm does not remain constant throughout the movie, and things begin to change once the actual mission is underway. Once, the events start to unfold in the opposite directions as planned, Khalid losses all his energy and conviction. Khalid gets convinced by the arguments of the young girl, Suha, and then, he even tries to convince his friend, Said, out of it as well. Interestingly, Said who keeps on second guessing himself throughout the preparatory process becomes adamant to carry out the operation once the actual operation begins. The enthusiasm of Khalid transformed into the determination of Said as the movie progressed. Khalid becomes less and less enthusiastic while Said becomes more and more determine to carry out the mission as time progressed.
Finally, the movie tries to humanize the suicide bomber and does very well in this regard. The movie tries to impress upon its viewers that suicide bombers are not robots or machines, but actual people of flesh and blood with very real lives, emotions and motivations. The movie is a good effort to depict that the problem of terrorism and suicide bombing has much deeper socio-political roots and unless the world community actively address them the problem of terrorism and suicide bombing would not go away. The movie does, indeed, strengthen the case of Palestinian people.
