> What starts as "following a herd" - both protagonists being told to
> be "chosen" for the mission, ends up as a series of choices due to
> unforeseen events.
The thing is, though, that nowhere in the film is either Said or Khaled represented as following any herd. The first time we see them, they are arguing with a difficult customer at a body shop where both work as mechanics. Khaled, losing his temper and damaging the customer's car, gets fired by his boss. Said, the politer of the two, is seen exchanging subtly meaningful words and glances with Suha who comes to the shop as a customer (both Said and Suha are such sincere young people that I'd hesitate to say they are "flirting"). In short, when we see them first, we see them as very ordinary individuals, who are dealing with the same sort of workaday hassles, and the same sort of small pleasures (like seeing someone you are attracted to but have not decided to make any move on), many people deal with all over the world. They are not members of any group -- or "herd," if you will. They don't seem particularly politicized -- certainly not by the Palestinian standard -- nor do they appear very religious. Although most viewers who go see this film probably go to the theater having read a review or two, knowing the outline of the plot, it still comes as something of surprise that these two young men -- long before the narrative time of the film proper began -- had committed themselves to going on a suicide mission.
Why did they make such a choice? Said says (after his hesitation and attempt to escape, which aborted the first mission) that the Israeli occupation has done great injustices to the Palestinians, the greatest being the Israeli use of collaborators, of whom his father was one (or at least was said to be one). What about Khaled? Because Said is his friend he loves dearly (in the film Said appears to be the one individual who matters to Khaled). Neither is a particularly convincing reason for an act as drastic as a suicide bombing, but aside from their plausibility, what kind of decisions are they? They aren't the decisions that they made by following whatever herd -- they are, rather, very personal decisions, a little inscrutable given their individual personalities (Khaled is alternately easy-going and hot-tempered, Said is contemplative and very attached to his mother), for which the words they use to explain them are very inadequate (this inadequacy is probably by design on the part of the director -- who knows why this -- rather than that -- Palestinian commits suicide bombing? Who can explain why he does what he does satisfactorily to others?). Why Said (rather than Khaled) bolts from his first mission, why Khaled (rather than Said) changes his mind, why Said decides to push Khaled away and goes through his second mission -- all are, again, very personal decisions whose fundamental (as opposed to stated) reasons are opaque, rather than decisions made by following someone else's -- for instance Jamal's -- political idea.
Since both Said and Khaled make personal decisions embedded in their shared culture (in which family and friendship mean a lot) and history (of the occupation), the film can't contrast one as making an individual moral choice and the other as following a herd.
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>