Suicide bomber film airs in Berlin

"Paradise Now," shot almost entirely in the West Bank town of Nablus, follows two longtime friends, Kais Nashef as Said and Ali Suliman as Khaled, as they prepare and set out for their attack in Tel Aviv.

But, gradually, the young men change their minds.

"They are human; whether you like it or not, even the suicide bombers are human. They make extreme decisions in an extreme situation," Palestinian-born director Hany Abu-Assad told AFP in an interview.

The Berlin audience warmly applauded the controversial movie, which is screening at the festival in competition for the Golden and Silver Bear awards. Six days before the honors are scheduled to be handed out, there is no clear favorite.

"This is reality, this is what life is like under occupation. We didn't need to do much acting," Ashraf Barhoum, who portrays Abu-Karem, the mastermind behind the planned attack on Israeli soldiers, said.

Hopes film would air in Israel

Abu-Assad, who directed the 2002 film "Rana's Wedding," said he intentionally chose Nablus, picking mostly actors from there. Often, the crew had to interrupt work because of shooting or missile attacks.

"The concept of the film was to make fiction in a 100 percent reality," he said. "To shoot in the place while it's happening ... this is why it looked so authentic, but at the same time it's a film."

The director, whose film already has distributors in several European countries, among them France, Italy and Spain, is keen to see the movie shown in Middle Eastern theaters, particularly in Israel.

"I think it's very important that the Israelis see it," he told reporters, stressing that he by no means condones suicide attacks. "They have to see it because it is part of their narrative, part of their tragedy."

"Paradise Now" has already taken the first step towards screening there. The state-backed Israeli Film Fund announced here it would support the film with advertising, but only if it secures a distributor.

Eating pita bread while filming a suicide bomber

The movie includes the filming of the traditional video in which the would-be "martyrs" explain why they are sacrificing themselves in the armed struggle against occupation, and a scene in which the men are wired up as human bombs.

Barhoum said everyone felt the film hit very close to home.

"People were crying when Khaled was reading his last will and testament to the video camera,” he said.

Abu-Assad based his tale on interrogation transcripts of failed suicide bombers, along with friends and families of attackers who died.

But humor also figures in to what would appear to be a very heavy tale - the video camera breaks down twice as Khaled is reciting his suicide manifesto, and when it finally works he looks up to see several people chewing on pita bread on the other side of the camera.

The 55th Berlinale, second only to Cannes and equal to Venice on the global film festival circuit, runs through the 20th of February.