Divine Intervention | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Elia Suleiman |
Written by | Elia Suleiman |
Produced by | Humbert Balsan Elia Suleiman |
Starring | Elia Suleiman Manal Khader |
Distributed by | Avatar Films (USA) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Countries | France Morocco Germany Palestinian territories |
Languages | Arabic Hebrew English |
Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية) is a 2002 film by 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 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 a performance that has been compared to the work of Buster Keaton, Jim Jarmusch and Jacques Tati.[1][2]
The film is noted for its minimal use of dialogue, its slow pace and repetition in behavior by its characters.