delanceyplace.com 01/19/06 - humor in terror

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In today's excerpt - the Arab sense of humor at the 2006 Dubai Film Festival:

"A comedy about a modern dance troupe that outrages traditionalists, The Bus topped charts in Lebanon. Its colorful musical packaging conceals themes of how to heal the wounds of war and rediscover national unity.  A big hit in its native Egypt, The Embassy in the Building wrings laughs from the story of a Cairo man dismayed to discover that the Israeli embassy has rented the flat next to his.

"There are even moments of dark humor in Paradise Now, the festival's opening night film and the current standard-bearer of the new Arab cinema. Tracing 24 hours in the lives of two Palestinian suicide-bombers, it shows the terrorists recording a farewell video—then having to do it again and again when the camera breaks down.  One of them takes the last-minute opportunity to tell his family where they can buy cheap water-filters."