Scheduled to be screened in early 2008, the film stands to make cinematic history in the Jewish state, where movie-makers tend to shy away from treating the controversy of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Its makers say that by personalising the bomber - named Tarek and portrayed as coming from the West Bank town of Tulkarm - they hope to show Israelis the complex motives behind many such attacks in the Jewish state.
"Behind the belts and the suicide bombers and the victims, there are real people with feelings, motives and fears," Israeli director Dror Zehavi told Reuters during a recent filming session in Tel Aviv.
Tarek is a Palestinian youth who infiltrates Israeli from the occupied West Bank, wearing a belt packed with explosives which he intends to detonate in a busy outdoor market in Tel Aviv.
The bomb's switch fails to operate. He seeks the help of an unwitting Israeli electrician, whom he ends up befriending, in addition to another young Israeli woman who lives on the same block.
He never completely backs out of his plan, feeling compelled to carry out the attack to placate militants back in the West Bank who have threatened to kill his father if he reneges.
But he does make an effort to keep his Israeli friends out of harm's way, say the film-makers.
The movie has been given the working title of Shabat Shalom Maradona (Good Sabbath Maradona), a nod to Tarek's passion for soccer and Argentine superstar Diego Maradona.
"Our goal in making this film is to build a bridge between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, to allow for reconciliation despite the very explosive situation in which we live," Zehavi said.
Symbolism
In the movie, Zehavi says the would-be bomber's explosives belt "symbolises the stereotypes that we need to explode".
The bomber "isn't motivated by hatred of Jews or wanting to destroy Israel. He's trying to save his father's life."
The movie is based in part on accounts divulged by Israeli security agents, following several thwarted bombings in which suspects have said their motives were more personal than ideological.
Controversial
While many Israeli films portray war and the hallowed military of a country that has fought seven wars and confronted two Palestinian uprisings over 60 years, Zehavi's is the first to tackle the sensitive subject of suicide bombings.
His film is sure to stir controversy in Israel.
Critics have already panned the subject.
A recent article in the Maariv tabloid newspaper denounced it as a "cultural bomb".
Israelis protested when the award-winning Palestinian movie Paradise Now - about a suicide bomber pair - was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar in 2005. It ended up losing to South Africa's Tsotsi.
Shredi Jabarin, the young Israeli Arab actor who plays Tarek, expects to weather some criticism for his role.
"I have to play a character that everyone hates, yet I have to try to make the audience love him. It's complicated," Jabarin said.
Box office
Zehavi cites recent Israeli-Palestinian efforts to renew stalled peace talks as a sign Israel is ready for such a film.
Producers also hope for a box office boost from at least one popular actor in a key supporting role.
Shlomo Vishinsky, a member of one of Israel's foremost theatre groups called the Cameri, will add populist punch in the role of the electrician who befriends Tarek.
Vishinsky's own son died two years ago in a gun battle with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
The actor says his personal tragedy has not shaken his conviction of a need to compromise for peace.
He says he hopes the movie can drive home the point that both Israelis and Palestinians have shed too much blood in conflict.
"You never know what goes on in their [Palestinians'] heads. We think they just want to be some religious martyr, but this guy is acting more on personal than political reasons," Vishinsky said.
"After all that has happened, most people just want peace." © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
