Thursday, August 15, 2013
Movie Review: Paradise: Love
Paradise: LoveDirected by: Ulrich Seidl.
Written by: Ulrich Seidl and Veronika Franz.
Starring: Margarete Tiesel (Teresa), Peter Kazungu (Munga), Inge Maux (Teresas Freundin), Dunja Sowinetz (Touristin), Helen Brugat (Touristin), Gabriel Mwarua (Gabriel), Carlos Mkutano (Salama), Josphat Hamisi (Beachboy).

Paradise: Love is not an easy film to watch – and probably an impossible one to “enjoy” in the traditional sense. This is a film that will make you cringe, and make you change your opinion on the characters – often from one scene to the next. Teresa seems like a nice person – she is struggling at home, but in desperate need of a vacation and a little love. When she first arrives in Kenya she is almost hopelessly naïve as to how things actually work – even when her friend introduces to her “boy toy” and tells her that she bought him the motorcycle he is riding on, it never quite clicks for Teresa that she can have anything she wants, as long as she’s willing to pay for it. She’s looking for love but here, love is for sale and really only takes the form of sex. Her first attempt with a Kenyan man goes awry – and she thinks it’s hopeless. In a scene that is subtly terrifying, she is surrounded by a group of young men, all trying to sell her something, when all she wants to do is walk on the beach. She is “saved” in a sense by Munga (Peter Kazungu) – and the two start a “relationship” – although Teresa does not realize that means two totally different things to each of them – which sets Teresa up for heartbreak
The movie gets uglier as it moves along – culminating in one of the most disturbing scenes in recent memory, as Teresa and her three friends cruelly mock and exploit one of the poor resort workers. The fact that he is a willing participant doesn’t excuse their behavior – and as they have him strip and dance around for them, then have a competition to see who can get him hard first – before cruelly throwing him out of their room. Why does Teresa take part in this? Is it just because she’s angry at how Munga used her – although she used him as well, especially in a scene where she dictates his every move in the bedroom? Perhaps, but for that to be true, you have to ignore a scene much earlier in the movie – before Munga even enters the film – where Teresa and one of her friends cruelly mocks the same employee as he works behind the bar, insulting him in a language he doesn’t understand, and laughing hysterically about it.
I honestly don’t know what to make of Paradise: Love. It is a well-made film by Seidl, who frames every shot precisely (perhaps too precisely at times), and features a wonderful, ambiguous performance by Tiesel, and an interesting one by Kazungu as Munga. These two characters exploit each other, so it’s hard to tell where your sympathies should lie, if they should lie with either of them at all. And because Seidl doesn’t spell everything out for the audience, he makes a thorny picture even thornier. Is there any right answer here?
But Paradise: Love is a fascinating movie – one that whether you love it or hate it (and I can easily see people on both sides here), you won’t be able to stop thinking about. This is the first of a trilogy – including Paradise: Faith and Paradise: Hope, which have already debuted at film festivals, and should make their way to screens this year. Despite my reservations on Paradise: Love, I cannot wait to see the other two films.
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