Revoke Nomination of Paradise Now...Now!

After reading the reviews and the petition to Revoke the Oscar nomination of Paradise Now, I agree with the petition. With that said, I enjoyed the movie and was very taken in by it.

My reasoning for agreeing with those that called for the Oscar nomination to be revoked is because I too feel that it did not go to the extent to show what a travesty suicide bombing and terrorist acts is for both sides. I feel the act of suicide bombers was handled to softly. It seemed that watching the film, viewers would tend to favor the two Said and Kahled and thus be less upset by their potential actions. I found myself feeling sorry for them and their naive views of the world. They are promised a transition to heaven led by angles and promised virgins, etc. Suicide bombers are radicals who not only take their own life, but lives of innocent people and soldiers as well. Yes, they are brain washed and are lied to about what to expect once they are dead. In the film when Kahled asks one of the organizers what will happen after they complete the mission, it seemed that Kahled caught him off guard. The organizer had to search through his thoughts for a second and blurted out that they will be picked up by two angles seemingly to satisfy Kahled and avoid further questioning. Kahled bought this explanation with no hesitation. But, do we coddle them because they are naive and are not predisposed to question, but only to follow. No.

During the final scene were Said was on the bus, he was focused on carrying out the mission. He took no time to look around. There were several soldiers, but also many women, children, fathers, brothers, sons, grandparents, wives, etc. He was only focused on what this would do for him and his family. To me this was very selfish and it made my blood curdle. The thought that someone would kill themselves but also kill a bus full of unsuspecting innocent people should be received with disdain from all viewers. Suicide bombers again are radical terrorist and I do not feel the film showed them in a negative light at all. The film made them likable, made us feel for them and not for those around them.

I don't believe that we should allow censorship based on whether or not a topic is offensive or controversial, but I do think that we need to start drawing a line when it comes to glorifying certain behaviors. If we continue to glorify dangerous behavior then we cannot be surprised when these cruel acts continue to happen. Some may start to lean towards drawing this line when it is one of their innocent unsuspecting loved ones caught in such a situation. If you disagree look up the facts on serial killers and where many of them got their sadistic ideas and learned to evade capture..........