Divine Intervention (film)
| Divine Intervention | |
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| Directed by | Elia Suleiman |
| Produced by |
Humbert Balsan Elia Suleiman |
| Written by | Elia Suleiman |
| Starring |
Elia Suleiman Manal Khader |
| Distributed by | Avatar Films (USA) |
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Release date
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May 19, 2002 |
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | France Morocco Germany Palestinian territories |
| Language | Arabic Hebrew English |
| Divine intervention | |
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| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | September 30, 2002 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Length | 52:27 |
| Label | Milan Music |
Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية) is a 2002 film by the Palestinian 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 performance that has been compared to the work of Buster Keaton, Jim Jarmusch and Jacques Tati.
The film is noted for its minimal use of dialogue, its slow pace and repetition in behavior by its characters.
In Nazareth, Santa Claus runs away from children as gifts fall from his basket. He's been stabbed and leans against a tree.
Neighbors bicker over small stuff.
A Palestinian couple meets in a car.
More bickering neighbors.
A tourist asks an Israeli policeman for directions. Unable to help her himself, the policeman brings out a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner from the back of his van. The Palestinian tells her three different possible routes.
The couple is in the car again. The man (E.S.) blows up a red balloon with the face of Yasser Arafat drawn on it. He releases it near an Israeli checkpoint. An Israeli soldier is about to shoot it down but his comrade stops him. In the confusion, the couple are able to drive through the checkpoint together. The balloon floats across Jerusalem, eventually settling against the Dome of the Rock.
At night, the couple again in a car.
The next morning, five Israeli men practice an elaborate sequence of dance-like moves. Armed with guns, they repeatedly fire at targets painted like a Palestinian woman under the direction of a choreographer-officer. When one of the targets fails to fall to the ground, a real Palestinian woman (dressed like the targets) appears. The officer instructs his men to fire at her. In a supernatural feat, she gathers their bullets in the air around her and rises from the ground. The bullets form a crown of thorns around her head until she lets them fall to the ground. She then uses crescent-adorned stars and rocks to kill all but the officer. A helicopter appears to reinforce the Israelis, which the woman also easily destroys. The dance choreographer watches helplessly and the woman disappear.
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