Suicide Killers Movie Review

It is hard to be critical about a film that explores such a painful and sensitive issue, but what Suicide Killers has in heart, it ultimately lacks in insight. The film examines the mindset of the Muslim suicide bomber, focusing on the Palestian-Israeli conflict, the film interviews suicide bombers (in training) as they prepare for the ordeal ahead as well as (in prison) those who either failed at their task or had a change of heart, to find out why on earth they would attempt to do such a thing. The results are, surprisingly, probably exactly what your expecting: A combination of religious brainwashing, financial rewards for their families, eternal glory in the homeland, and the promise of amazing things in heaven once they've blown up the infidel.

As you might expect, finding many such subjects to speak on camera isn't easy, so director Pierre Rehov spends more time with bombing victims, many of whom are now badly disabled. Their commentary on what happened the day the explosives went off is harrowing, but it hardly gets inside the mind of an assassin. The film is at its most interesting when it contrasts the cultures of Israel and Palestine, just a few yards from each other, with black-shrouded women looking on at some kind of bikini dance party across the border. It's scary because of what is not said.

But Rehov's film is all over the map, with an almost random approach to building his narrative. The movie feels like it abruptly ends, long after we've been worn out by it.

The DVD includes bonus scenes.