"Paradise Now"

I can undertand both of the viewpoints for and against the removal of "Paradise Now" from the Academy Awards nomination list. Terrorism is somthing that effects most people at some point in their life. Palestinians and Israeli's especially are forced to live with terrorism on a daily basis. When it comes to filmmaking, however, I have to agree that "Paradise Now" did not need to be removed from award contention. According to the Petition against the removal, "Remember, there are always two sides to every story. It is only fair to hear the other side as well. The side that does not get any press coverage. The side you will never see on the evening news". This is one of the great things about film. Stories can be told from perspectives that wouldn't normally be seen in the outside world. The News shows the things that are going to make the most impact on viewers and is an extremely biased source. This film shows the other side of the story. Part of the beauty of film as well as other forms of art is that it is usually most effective when it causes a lot of controversy. People have very strong opinions and are going to either agree or disagree with something based on their personal views and experiences. Whether I agree with this film or not is not the issue. Every side of every story should be able to be shown and as it was said in the counter-petition, people can then come to their own conclusions. I don't believe that this film was intending to make the suicide bombers into victims. People understand what terrorism is and that these men were still killers. I believe that this film was making an attempt to show viewers that there is another side to the story and whether right or wrong, the story still exists.