paradise now Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Nicolas Cage as a parent? Variety says that Cage has signed up to play "a father who goes in search of his college-aged American-born Muslim son, who's missing overseas" in The Vanished. Cage is 43, so he's certainly old enough chronologically to play the parent of of a college kid. But maybe I'm just fixating on the buck-toothed role he played in his uncle's Peggy Sue Got Married, wherein Kathleen Turner desperately wanted to avoid having him father her child. Or maybe it's Raising Arizona, where he stole another family's quintuplets. Or Leaving Las Vegas, in which he drank himself to death, or Face/Off, where he made John Travolta's daughter think her dad was coming on to her, or the kind of fathers he played in Matchstick Men , The Family Man and The Weather Man.

In real life, Cage is probably a wonderful father to his children, but his performances tend to be all over the map, so we'll wait to see how his collaboration with director Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now) turns out. Does Cage's character in The Vanished disapprove of his son's decision to become a Muslim? I would count on it. Does he love him anyway? Of course. Will he come into conflict with racial and religious prejudice? No doubt.

The Vanished is described as a thriller, but it's being made for Focus Features. That, along with the subject matter, clearly signals the film as possible Oscar bait. (For comparison's sake, Focus's releases this fall are Eastern Promises and Lust, Caution, Reservation Road and Atonement.) Cage will next be seen in the sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which hits theaters on December 21. He starts filming Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler in January and moves on to The Vanished in April. I wouldn't be surprised if they're aiming to complete it in time for the Toronto and/or Venice film festivals next September.

Will Smith presents Best Foreign, because of course foreign language films comprise the greater part of his body of work. What country is Paradise Now going to officially be from? -- Palestinian Territories, nice compromise. Here are the nominees:

Don't Tell (Italy)
Joyeux Noël (France)
Paradise Now (Palestinian Authority)
Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days (Germany)
Tsotsi (South Africa)

 

And the winner is....Tsotsi! Woot!

Director Gavin Hood gives the most impassioned and heartfelt speech of the evening. He graciously insists the camera people show the kids who starred in the film, too. Why is it that the non-Hollywood types give the most realistically emotional speeches, while the  people who are supposed to be able to act often give boring ones?

 

A group of bereaved parents who have lost children to Palestinian suicide bombings have gathered 32,000 signatures asking the Academy to disqualify Paradise Now from consideration for the Best Film in a Foreign Language Oscar. The controversial film, about two friends from the West Bank recruited to be suicide bombers, explores the mentality behind people choosing to blow themselves and others up in the name of politics and religion. Many Israelis feel the film glorifies terrorists, and the film has been banned throughout Israel. The film was a collaborative effort by a team including a Jewish Israeli, an Israeli Arab, and a Palestinian cast and crew.

I don't think the Academy is going to bow on this and pull the film - for a nominated film to be withdrawn is just unheard of - nor do I think they should. I sympathize with the Israeli parents; losing a child under any circumstance is a terrible thing. However, part of the point of movies like Paradise Now is to explore both sides of a story. There isn't just an Israeli side to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; as in any other conflict in life, it takes two to tango. If we are to ever hope to truly see peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, we have to understand the motivations and emotions that drive ordinary people to strap explosives to their bodies and blow up themselves and innocent people. If there is room for a film like Munich, which is about the Israeli response to the terrible terrorist attack at the Munich 1972 Olympics, when terrorists killed members of the Israeli Olympic team, there must also be room for films like Paradise Now, which explore the factors that drive such acts  (to be fair, there has been Israeli protest over Munich as well). 

Israel and US Jewish groups are protesting Best Foreign Film nominee Paradise Now being listed as a film from "Palestine", and are lobbying the organizers of the awards extravaganza to change the film's tag to "Palestinian Authority", according to anonymous Israeli diplomat who spoke to Reuters. Their beef with the designation stems from the implication that Palestine as such is a recognized nation; at the moment, Palestinians have limited self-rule under the label "Palestinian Authority". The film, which is about two friends from West Gaza recruited to become suicide bombers, has been largely rejected in Israel because of what many there view as a sympathetic portrayal of suicide bombers. The film has found better reception with Palestinian audiences. The Academy has not yet spoken on what, if anything, they intend to do in response to the protest; it's kind of a no-win situation for them. The last thing Oscar wants on the biggest night of self-congratulatory flatulence of the year is to have to deal with anything remotely resembling real-life, emotionally charged conflicts.

You, dear readers, on the other hand, actually do occasionally comment on real-life issues. So let's see what you think - should the Academy change the designation of Paradise Now to the technically correct "Palestinian Authority"? Or is it more fitting that the film be designated as a film from Palestine?

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