The Other Side of Paradise; In his new film, Hany Abu-Assad shows the humanity of Palestinian suicide bombers. Not everyone approves.(Paradise Now)

Byline: Eric Pape

As Hany Abu-Assad knows, it takes a certain kind of fortitude--some might say recklessness--to make a film in a place under military occupation. While he was shooting his new movie, "Paradise Now," on location in the West Bank city of Nablus, a real-life explosion nearby killed three people. "There were a lot of human bodies all over--it could have been us," says Abu-Assad, 43. On another occasion, Palestinian gunmen came to the hotel where the film's cast and crew were staying. They had heard that the film, about two young Palestinians who agree to become suicide bombers, was anti-Palestinian--and they wanted to put an end to the project. Careful diplomacy brought a peaceful resolution, but six crew members decided that they'd had enough and quit. The filmmakers eventually decided to move the final shoots to the safer terrain of Nazareth. "We risked a lot to shoot in a war zone, but we wanted an authentic setting while it was happening," the director says. "We all knew that we were in danger, but sometimes you think your work is important enough to take risks. Later, when you get home, you think, I was crazy to do that."

But there is no genius without a touch of madness. And the triumph of "Paradise Now"--the first feature film ever shot in the West Bank--is that it reveals the texture and humanity of the troubled region. Funded by German, Dutch and French investors, the 1.8 million euro film makes the dead-end lives of young Palestinians accessible even to those who know little about the enduring Palestinian-Israeli conflict. At the Berlin Film Festival last month, "Paradise Now" won the audience prize and the award for best European film, as well as the Amnesty International award for best film. Distribution rights have since been widely sold, including for the United States.

The film's most compelling aspect is its journey into the minds of the confused young men who seek to alleviate their sense of powerlessness through suicidal violence. "There is no typical suicide bomber," says Abu-Assad, who also co-wrote the script. "It can be a man, a woman, a religious person or a nonreligious one. There are a variety of personal motivations. But they all have one big concern: the liberation of their country. They all think that there is no other option but to kill themselves along with their enemy."

All his life, Abu-Assad has been preparing for this film. He was born in 1961 to a middle-class Palestinian family in the Israeli city of Nazareth. After high school he accepted the invitation of an uncle, who had obtained political asylum in the Netherlands, to study there. He obtained the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in engineering and began working on airplanes. His career was interrupted 15 years ago when he was invited to work with a British documentary-film team. He ended up organizing the day-to-day elements of shoots. Working in the world of images reminded him of the powerful impact of the first film he ever saw, as a 5-year-old. It was a Western. "The horses seemed so real that, as they came toward us, I took cover to hide from them. Afterward I went behind the screen to see where the horses came ...