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Ali Soliman's fears about the film Paradise Now began when he was chosen to play Khaled, Said's (Kais Nashef's) best friend.
"I was worried about people's reactions," he said at a recent press conference, to the delicate matter being pursued in the film: 24 hours in the life of two would-be suicide bombers, in the post 9/11 age.
While Khaled struggles in the film for the camera's attention, mainly focused on the silent, charismatic Said, his character also falls on a Hellenic sword, that of love.
He describes Khaled's character thus: "Khaled is an impulsive person in making his decisions. His decisions are based on shallow things, and they are not always deep or good decisions. When he senses danger, he felt the tightness of the suicide belt around him, he feels alive. And that feeling is very strong. As was the feeling that he would mourn his childhood friend."
Soliman said he expected an extremely negative reaction from Palestinian audiences, where the real-life scenario his character confronted was being acted out in a city where young men were presented with the same scenario.
"It was very difficult to take this role. It was an unusual role, but it was also reality. It's not an issue that's tackled every day, but it was every day, it was reality. I was worried about the reaction it would have, if it would be positive or negative."
Soliman also feared a strong reaction from Israelis and Israeli censors, who took a tough stance several years earlier on the Palestinian documentary, Jenin, Jenin, initially banning its screening within Israel.
"I was afraid of the response the film would have. I thought there would be a strong reaction against the film and they [Israeli censors] would put it away. The reality was the opposite of my expectations."
The film was not censored at all, Soliman said, and his own concerns about playing a suicide bomber disappeared as he bunkered down in Nablus, in the Occupied West Bank, to play the role of Khaled.
"When I lived in Nablus - Nablus gave me the answers for every question I had."
But some Palestinians in Nablus, where the film was shown, were not happy with the film, Soliman said, because of the fictional interpretation of a real-life situation.
"Some people wanted it to be more documentary, to show more of the Palestinian issue. That was difficult. But others accepted it as a film. The problem is if you want to make a film about the Palestinian issue, you will need 3 or 4 films just to touch a quarter of the issue."
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