Next Monday, March 27, Monday Night at the Movies will present Paradise Now (Arabic with English subtitles, rated PG) at Orangeville's Galaxy theatre.

Hany Abu-Assad's stirring new film was an official selection of the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival where it received critical acclaim. It was also the winner of the Amnesty International Film Prize for 2005 and the Golden Globe. It was nominated for the Oscar award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film dramatizes the Palestinian struggle by focusing on the lives of two would-be suicide bombers. The entire story takes place in what could possibly be the last 48 hours of their lives. These two young men have been friends their whole lives, and both have recently been recruited to set off a bomb in Israel.

After the planning is complete, they set off to cross the very heavily secured border into Israel. Not surprisingly, they are stopped and forced into interrogation. While there, they meet a young woman who feels very passionately that they are making a huge mistake. She pleads with them to reconsider, but is met with equal fervour from the two men.With hours to go before the mission is to be completed, suspense continues to build, and no one - including the parties involved - knows what the outcome will be.

Opting to avoid emotional contrivances, AbuAssad lets the natural drama and tensions emerge through the actors' performances.

Paradise Now, which handles sensitive subject matter in a thought-provoking and highly moving way, does not leave audiences untouched.

Stephen Holden of The New York Times calls this film "a taut ingeniously calculated thriller."

For more information visit the official website: www.paradisenowthemovie. com

Individual tickets are $8 (cash only) and available at BookLore and Galaxy Cinemas, Orangeville. Three screenings: 4:30, 7 and 9:20 p.m.