Description: At the center of the Middle East conflict, hearts beat in tragic comedy and deadpan irony: a sexy young Palestinian woman defies Israeli soldiers and struts through a check-point as if it were the catwalk of a fashion show, Santa Claus is chased up the sun-drenched hills of Nazareth by a gang of knife-wielding school kids, Israeli police use a blindfolded prisoner to provide directions to tourists in Jerusalem, a Palestinian collaborator casually extinguishes his firebombed house on a daily basis, and a female ninja descends from the sky, holding the map of ‘Palestine’ as her battle shield. These are but a few of the provocative images that filmmaker Elia Suleiman puts forth in his critically-acclaimed satire chronicling the absurdities of life and love on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli border, DIVINE INTERVENTION.
awesome and deep Did not know what to expect from such a title... It is a layer os messages in abstract and direct displays in this fun and wacky film, Recomend it tells many little stories of life under occupation.
"That's Enough. Stop It Now" ~ The Urgent Need For A Lasting Peace Synopsis: The film begins with Santa Claus (or a Gentile dressed as Santa) running frantically up a hill in Nazareth with three teenage Arab boys chasing him with the intention of killing this universally recognized symbol of the Christian faith (or more specifically the United States).
A man makes frequent trips out his front door carrying a bag of trash which he throws over the fence into his neighbor's garden. When he spots the neighbor throwing the debris back into his yard he confronts her and lectures her on personal responsibility and communication skills.
A red balloon adorned with the face of Yasser Arafat floats over an Israeli check point, into the old city of Jerusalem, landing atop the Dome of the Rock mosque.
Critique: These are just a few of the surreal, symbolist sequences presented by director Elia Suleiman in the '02 message movie `Divine Intervention'. I didn't know anything about this movie before viewing it except that it dealt with the ongoing social/political situation in the Middle East.
From the title I mistakenly assumed that it was going to be presented from the Jewish perspective. However once into the film I found it personally and profoundly relevant and somewhat disturbing to discover that the hope and longing for "Divine Intervention" doesn't solely reside in the arena of the Christian and Jewish faiths. The fact that I hadn't considered the possibility that the Arab community hopes and dreams for the same thing was humbling and somewhat telling.
`Divine Intervention" opened my mind to the realization of my spiritual/political myopia and if for no other reason that fact makes this film worth viewing. It does move along too slowly for the American audience and the surreal, symbolist nature of the storyline will not attract a large following of avid viewers. Be that as it may the Palestinian angst and anger is magnificently conveyed and the image of the pot on the stove about to boil over sends a message of urgency and concern that we ignore at our own peril.
Utter tripe This film is marketed as a Jackie Chan type comedy via the previews. The reason why is this film is an artsy-fartsy piece of garbage. If you like watching a man sit at his breakfast table while he stares at the camera for five minutes and find deep meaning from scenes like that then this film is for you. The so-called provocative interesting images this film has wouldn't fill a single music video. If you love foreign movies and film do yourself a favor and pass on this deceptively marketed film which has about as much substance as watching paint dry on a wall. You've been warned.
Worst movie ever This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I bought it in order to study arabic, and was distraught to find very little dialogue. The movie isn't a comedy, as the reviews and trailer would make you think. It actually gets very boring, as it repeats the same scenes over...and over...and....over........ Overall, this movie seems to be a rather pathetic attempt by a film-maker to show how mundane life in Israel-occupied Palestine is. It's propaganda, and not very good propaganda at that.
Life in Palestine This film is exceptional! For those who wish to reflect upon life in Palestine under Israeli military occupation, this film is a must. See my full length article: "Palestinian Life and Politics as Feature Length Cinema." Holy Land Studies 2.1 (2003): 109-14.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
