By the end of the movie the main characters have you believing that they have no choice but to bomb Israel, and that I believe is wrong. When the one brother decides that he does not want to do it, it was powerful to see how strong he was in his belief that it was not the right way. Having been pumped up before hand and told he was going to be a hero, to turn his back on the mission meant to come back as a coward (and probably be killed).
In class we discussed the role of religion in this film, and there is one connection I would like to make. I do not believe that the bombers main goal was to blow themselves up and then go right to heaven. Islam does not preach violence yet the organization in this film made the bombers believe that they were going to be praised and welcomed into heaven. Though the main point of the film was not religion, it did subtly show what could be considered a radical Islamic belief.
I agree with you in that bombing Israel is still a choice the characters were making- and not a necessary or a good one. This movie was somewhat hard to analyze, but it seems like it came to the conclusion that cyclical violence is not the right way to end conflict. Now how to end cyclical violence is another question altogether!
ReplyDeleteI think when people feel like they are in a desperate situation, they start considering desperate solutions. An important lesson from this movie may be to try and help those in these situations, before they reach their breaking point.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you raise a point that will be a focus of a final exam question. Don't assume that answer needs to "easy" or "stereotyped" to be a good answer...
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