Main Cast: Elia Suleiman, Manal Khader, Nayef Fahoum Daher, George Ibrahim, George Khleifi
Release Year: 2002
Country: MA/DE/FR
Run Time: 92 minutes
Plot
Director Elia Suleiman uses a mixture of romantic comedy and quirky humor to shed light on the problems of Palestinians in Yadon Ilaheyya (Divine Intervention). E.S. (Suleiman and his girlfriend Manal Khader), because they live in separate cities, must meet near an Israeli checkpoint. The film is little more than a series of usually comic but occasionally poignant scenes in which Suleiman and others must confront any number of Israeli nemeses. Suleiman's second film, Divine Interventions, was screened in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention is a mordantly amusing black comedy about life among the Arab citizens of Israel. The film makes excellent use of Suleiman's uniquely attenuated style of slapstick humor. It begins auspiciously, in Nazareth, where Santa Claus (George Ibrahim) is pursued by a gang of Palestinian kids. Chased up a hill, wheezing and dropping presents from his sack, Santa turns to face his attackers, revealing a butcher knife sticking out of his chest. With this darkly comic opening, Suleiman subverts a conventional cinematic narrative trope (his chase sequence is hilariously accomplished), and fulfills a personal revenge fantasy while delineating the vast chasm between the historical significance of Nazareth, the contemporary manifestation of its religious significance, and its current reality. Eschewing any sort of linear narrative, Suleiman goes on to illustrate his neighbors' tragicomic disregard for each other, in what can clearly be seen as metaphor for the current state of Arab-Israeli relations. His film also ventures into fantasy as the director himself appears, inadvertently blowing up an Israeli tank with a peach pit, using a helium balloon affixed with the image of Yasser Arafat to send an Israeli checkpoint into panic, and having precisely choreographed checkpoint trysts with a woman (Manal Khader) who turns out to be some kind of commando-slaying ninja assassin. Divine Intervention could be seen as a continuation of Suleiman's previous feature, Chronicle of a Disappearance, but the tone here is darker, inflected with mourning that is both personal (the death of the filmmaker's father) and political (the worsening of Mideast "tensions"). Divine Intervention makes few concessions to audience expectations, and some may be put off by the film's lugubrious pace, while others may be offended by Suleiman's symbolic violence. But the film remains an invaluably trenchant and timely look at the region it depicts. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Cast
Elia Suleiman - E.S.
Manal Khader
Nayef Fahoum Daher
George Ibrahim - Santa Claus
George Khleifi
Avi Kleinberger
Credit
Samir Srouji - Art Director, Denis Renault - Art Director, Miguel Markin - Art Director, Elia Suleiman - Co-producer, Elia Suleiman - Director, Véronique Lange - Editor, Marc André Batigne - Cinematographer, Humbert Balsan - Producer, Eric Tisserand - Sound/Sound Designer, Elia Suleiman - Screenwriter
Divine Intervention pairs healer and teacher Starr Fuentes with new age pioneer Steve Halpern in a duet featuring grand piano, choir and multidimensional healing frequencies. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
Steven Halpern (Piano), Steven Halpern (Keyboards), Steven Halpern (Main Performer), Steven Halpern (Liner Notes), Warren Dennis Khan (Engineer), Warren Dennis Khan (Mastering), Irene Young (Photography), Wolfgang Gersch (Cover Art)
Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية) is a 2002 film by the IsraeliPalestinian director Elia Suleiman, which may be described as a surreal black comedy. The film consists largely of a series of brief interconnected sketches, but for the most part records a day in the life of a Palestinian living in Nazareth, whose girlfriend lives several checkpoints away in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
One lyrical section features a beautiful sunglasses-clad Palestinian woman (played by Manal Khader) whose passing by not only distracts all eyes, but whose gaze causes Israeli military checkpoint towers to crumble. The director features prominently as the film's silent, expressionless protagonist in an iconic and powerfully moving performance has been compared to the work of Buster Keaton, Jim Jarmusch and Jacques Tati.[1][2]
Despite being nominated for the "Palme d'Or" award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, the film's consideration as candidate for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards was an occasion for considerable controversy. In late 2002, producer Humbert Balsan authorized the US distributor of the film to release a statement which stated that Balsan had asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences if the film could run for best foreign language picture. According to Balsan, the answer was no, because "Palestine is not a state we recognize in our rules." However, spokesperson John Pavlik states that the Academy had never made a decision on that issue because Suleiman had never submitted his film. Critics like The Electronic Intifada and others, claim that the Academy did make a decision, and that it was based on political considerations.[3]
The film was considered for an Oscar the following year; Pavlik told Variety "The committee decided to treat Palestine as an exception in the same way we treat Hong Kong as an exception. It's always the goal of the foreign-language film award executive committee to be as inclusive as possible."[4]
Elia Suleiman has used entirely non-original music of various genres and artists in the film. These include artists such as the Belgian singer Natacha Atlas, Indian composer A.R. Rahman, Lebanese electro-pop band Soapkills and Paris-based record producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï.
The film screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on May 12,[5] was awarded the Jury Prize[6] and the FIPRESCI Prize for "its sensitive, amusing and innovative vision of a complex and topical situation and the tragic consequences that result from it".[7]
