The Smell of Paradise (2005) User Reviews

I didn't love The Smell of Paradise in the morning*

[saareman · 6/10 · 31 July 2006]

This plodding documentary felt overlong with about the last 20 minutes spent in a village where the filmmakers may have been hoping (they don't quite say it directly) to obtain the journalistic coup of a post 9/11 on-camera interview with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and/or Taliban leader Mullah Omar, but didn't get it and chose to end the film with the waiting game anyway. Osama and Omar may have made a crafty decision for their personal safety, because the rest of the film has interviews with primarily Chechen jihadists who have mostly, since those interviews, been assassinated by such means as car bombs or poisoned mail. Several times the narrator or a security official stresses the dangers of the filmmakers' journey but the only on-screen incident involves having one of their jeeps get stuck in a mud hole whereupon a group of Afghani locals pitch in to pull/push them out. The film seemed to promise a journey into a jihadist "Heart of Darkness"/"Apocalypse Now" but instead of a Colonel Kurtz/Marlon Brando at the end, there is only a dry weeping mullah who exhorts the filmmakers to forget all they've seen and heard, and just learn to love God. Given the build-up, it is not enough to merit the journey.

A few extra points can be given for the filmmakers' perseverance in what appears to be extremely bleak circumstances and landscapes, which gets this to a 6 out of 10, or a 3 out of 5, or a 2 out of 4, depending on how you like to scale.

* the summary comment is because I went to a 9am screening of this film.

priceless footage

[PKANMA · 10/10 · 11 September 2005]

I just saw this documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival. The reaction from the audience was certainly supportive. The Smell of Paradise brings us remarkable interviews and footage of Chechen and Afgani warlords/terrorists/as they shift through the middle east trying to further their cause yet avoid assassination. I was amazed that thew journalists managed to attain such interviews as the subjects were often pursued by the US and Russian intelligence. As it turns out many of the interviewed subjects are now dead. I highly recommend this Documentary to Middle East followers and history and political buffs. My rated of 8 of 10 is based mostly on the fact that the footage we all experienced was rare and not attainable by larger and better financed journalists. Bravo!

It is a sweet musky scent, unlike anything else and can be smelt from a distance of 40 years.

[baztun · 10/10 · 10 June 2018]

Surprise you can still find this video on the internet, misleading title though.

There is nothing about smelling the scent paradise. It is a sweet musky scent.

Not a part of the world that gets reported on often. Very basic facilities, how could the originators of 9/11 be from here? They were mostly Saudi's, but also Egyptians and Lebanese.

Better to have Osama-bin-laden tried in an international court of law, found guilty on evidence, them executed. Rather than turned into a martyr.

The break down of trust between the clan and the American soldiers is worthy of note. The clan was not part of the Taliban hence they deserve to be treated with respect.

journey through Afghanistan to talk to Islamic extremists

[peter-1362 · 5/10 · 10 September 2005]

First off, and I guess this is a spoiler, this movie has precious little that's directly about suicide bombers. It does have some memorable interviews with Afghan clerics talking about their differences with the West which is part of the story of the suicide bombers, but certainly not all of it. We never listen to young people who might become bombers or any young people or women at all, for that matter. In fact, I suspect the title is a cynical repackaging designed to get some more buzz for the film.

All that said, the filmmakers had great courage to venture into the parts of Afghanistan that they did. The fact that they use some of the film's time to make that clear (an interview with a security expert, info on which of their interview subjects were later assassinated) gives the film a somewhat self-indulgent "we're so brave" edge which is distracting.

The filmmakers don't really make sense of the Byzantine relationships between various Islamic groups -- the viewer is supposed to do that. And given that we really only talk to old male religious leaders enmeshed in religious intrigue, we get a very narrow view of the situation.

HOWEVER, the intensity with which these subjects talk about their religion *is* fascinating and it's the reason I gave the film a 5 instead of a 2. Without the self-aggrandizement, a more realistic title, and adding only a little more explanation, I could easily give this a 7 or 8.