It Must Be Heaven

Elia Suleiman is trying to make a film about his native Palestine. It'll be about the conflict, but with a focus on the people living through it, and it'll be a comedy. To get it financed he must travel to Paris and then New York. The result is It Must Be Heaven, an absolute treat of a film.

Suleiman places himself at the center of the film as an (almost) silent spectator. There's a touch of Buster Keaton about him as he passively observes small vignettes from life: farmers tell him stories; combatants run past him; neighbours help one another. However, what Suleiman is really doing is lending us his eyes. He's inviting the audience to see what he sees, and then reflect, while he stands by silently.

As he travels across the globe the scenes vary in nature, but throughout there is a recurring presence of both kindness and aggression. Movements are also repeated and mirrored. While the action is exaggerated there is still a strict precision to the framing. Characters move in straight lines, or circles, always keeping the frame balanced. This is all designed to catch our eye and encourage us to really look at what we're seeing. The film may present caricatures but in reality, it's a reflection on how the West is seen and it questions how the West sees itself. Suleiman finally brings the attention back to Palestine where, despite everything, there is just as much life here as anywhere else.

At once very gentle and thoroughly engrossing, this is a film that's both funny and thought-provoking and, like the mark of all good films, the more you watch it the more you will see. Utilising the universal language of silent cinema, Suleiman has made a film about Palestine that is universally relatable. A small, understated gem.

Maybe the best response for an absurdist situation is to reflect back that same puzzlement. I suspect the "p" word puts off many viewers who want to watch a film without too many arguments. The idea that some kind "Buster Keaton persona" could be present at so many bizarre situations without launching an obvious rant of some kind is a tidy conceit.

Most of the time - that stance works. It does get stretched a bit thin as the locus moves from Nazareth to Paris and New York. Apparently Montreal was a location too but that wasn't obvious. That may have been intentional.

The film maker appears to be asking us to makes some comparisons between international scenarios and the Palestinian politics. There is very little spoken dialogue in the film itself.

I liked the music and the general keystone cops sequence in Central Park but some of the other sequences are a bit more cryptic. On the whole the film does a great job of setting expectations and then flipping them for comic effect. Some of that comes across as self parody.

There are genuinely funny moments. I saw this at a film festival and I was delighted by it. It did make me think some more about the absurdity of the modern media and the milking of outrage rather than the more important discourse that we never quite get to.

Don't be fooled that it's a comedy movie. If you want to laugh, you'll be bored with this movie. An anti-militarism art film. Making you smile. I think it's beautiful

If you have the patience for the editing style and the focus on symbolism without much dialogue then you will have a great time. I laughed a lot about this Tati-like observer watching one absurd scene after the next. The humor has a deadpan Jarmusch-style delivery that draws you in at first and then makes you laugh throughout the movie. Most of the scenes pose as symbols for European culture, the situation in the Middle-East and the lack of a proper home for Palaestinians. There are more layers. With one viewing you will not get every aspect of it but that is totally fine. It is still a delight.

How to speak about Palestine with comedy?

Suleiman uses absurdity to reflect about the contradictions in New York and Paris. Militarism, exile as seen in his homeland are elsewhere.

The movie is beautifuly directed and edited.