No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman

There’s something cheerfully blunt about a title like No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman, first screened at the Venice Film Festival and already destined for greater awareness on account of Iraq selecting it as its submission for the International Feature Film category at the Oscars (despite the production being entirely Norwegian, owing to director Halkawt Mustafa’s personal life). Fans of action cinema are in for a treat, as are viewers interested in a different take on stories revolving around Iraqi territories, and the Kurdistan region in particular.

As per the title, the story revolves around a female sniper, Vyan (Avan Jamal), a Kurdish woman who has made such a name for herself, ISIS has put a price on her head. Following the terror group’s assault on Mosul in 2014, she relocated to Norway and coped by shutting off her emotions. That is, until a phone call alerts her to the fact her sister, believed lost during the war, is being held captive somewhere in the city. Driven by familial affection and a modicum of appetite for vengeance, Vyan returns to her war-torn home region and begins making her way to the area controlled by ISIS, with two Swedish sniper brothers posing the biggest threat. But they will soon learn that, as the saying goes, Hell hath no fury – and quite literally, since their belief system makes any dreams of martyrdom null and void, should they die at the hands of a woman.

Action aficionados with a Netflix account may remember a 2019 film called Mosul, which dramatized the 2016 battle for the city which pitted the Iraqi government against ISIS. Although spoken in Arabic, it was a very bombastically American project, directed by scriptwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan and produced by the Russo brothers of Marvel Cinematic Universe fame. Mustafa’s approach is much more grounded and tied to a territory that holds personal meaning to the director, albeit filtered through the lens of a life spent abroad (with a nice touch of dark Nordic humor in that the movie is entirely produced by Norway and the nominal villains hail from Sweden, a sort of blood-spattered reference to the friendly ribbing between the two countries).

Through Mustafa’s eyes, which become Vyan’s as she crawls in the midst of rubble in search of a strategic vantage point, we are taken on a journey through a region in ruins, with John Erling H. Fredriksen’s camera capturing every inch of the street corners turned into massive target practice arenas and the largely silent horror that comes with the oppressive regime: there are long stretches where the only dialogue is brief commands communicated via walkie talkie, while the protagonist advances towards her fanatically bloodthirsty prey without making a sound. And yet, there is a glimmer of hope in that infernal landscape, albeit one conveyed through gritted teeth and wordless determination. It may be no Paradise for a lot of the people on screen but, in cinematic terms at least, this heartfelt ass-kicker definitely aspires to higher levels compared to other similarly minded actioners.

Director, Screenwriter: Halkawt Mustafa
Cast: Avan Jamal, Thorbjørn Harr, Kanar Sarchl, Kader Jalal
Producer: Xabier Berzosa
Cinematography: John Erling H. Fredriksen
Production design: Mikael Varhelyi
Costume design: Rojiar Tahmoores Nia
Music: Trond Bjerknes
Sound: Mattias Eklund, Jan Kasskawo
Production company: Hene Films
World sales: True Colours
Venue: Venice Film Festival (Venice Open – Out of Competition)
In Kurdish, Arabic, Norwegian, Swedish
110 minutes