उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

I remember seeing a clip from this film which involved Palestinians at a roadblock having to endure humiliation from the Israeli soldiers manning it . The scene then cuts to the Palestinian protagonist stopping his car beside a Jewish settler . I was expecting something to happen at this point but nothing did and decided to catch DIVINE INTERVENTION when it made an appearance at the Edinburgh filmhouse very recently to see if it made sense in a wider context

I'll say one thing about Elia Suleiman and that is he know's how to hook an audience in to a story since this contains a truly memorable opening sequence where a much loved icon meets with some violence which will distress anyone who's hoping for some Christmas gifts . Unfortunately he's unable to continue the momentum of this and we quickly find ourselves in Michaelangelo Antonioni territory . It's been said that both Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati have influenced Suleiman but I believe Antonioni has a far more obvious effect . For example a character offers cigarettes to two other characters who then wave their hands in to shot showing that they are already holding lit cigarettes something the character would have been aware of but not the audience . Other examples would be the exploding tank which seems to have been inspired by ZABRASKIE POINT , or a character continually being told there's no bus as he stands at a bus stop and , but perhaps the most obvious example would be the ending involving a pressure cooker . Antonioni likes to irritate the audience with portent enigmas and Elia Suleiman has done the same here along with a few stylistic nods to Robert Bresson

Unfortunately many people on this site and the handful of people in the audience of The Edinburgh Filmhouse seem to have misunderstood DIVINE INTERVENTION somewhat . This was most obvious during the discussion afterwards held by a distinguished epistemological film critic tried to concentrate on the ideas and influences behind the film and kept having the subject changed by useless idiots who were compelled to inform us all they knew about " fascist Israelis " and how the film didn't go far enough in " showing the brutality of the Israeli occupation " . Duh well it's not about the " brutality of the Israeli occupation " - it's about the absurdity of life under occupation and of the wider absurdity of everyday life . If you go and watch this film with a closed mind then you'll fail to understand it . DIVINE INTERVENTION isn't a great film but it's certainly one that can be appreciated by cinephilles rather more than mindless politicised idiots of what ever side of the Middle Eastern fence they're on

Very intelligent and sensitive film. Don't get me wrong: I can easily fall asleep in slow, "intellectual" films, but in this one I enjoyed every single shot and scene of it. The music was very good as well.

I loved the urban landscapes, the faces and body language of the people and the strong symbolisms.

Do you know how much power an apricot stone has ? :-)

'Divine Intervention' is not your average political commentary film. Although many may see it as "boring," it is in fact teeming with metaphors and symbols. Those who enjoy abstract art and are very familiar with the conflict and the region will find this movie a masterfully done work of art. If you prefer straight forward movies, i would suggest looking elsewhere. It is a bit choppy at the beginning, but in order to appreciate the movie, don't give up and watch the entirety of the film. The film smooths out, and more of the director's intentions and symbols become apparent. There are some very amusing scenes, and some that are painful to watch, but after all the movie is a commentary on love, pain, war and life.

"Divine Intervention," or" A Godlike Hand," consists of many vignettes which are Tati-esque "sans paroles" cartoons (they call them "bidoon ta'leeq" in Arabic, without comment), or comic strips actually, since scenes keep returning with slight changes and end with implied punch lines.

The first half focuses on individuals in Jerusalem, the last on Suleiman himself, his father (Nayef Fahoum Daher), and his girlfriend (Manal Khader). His girlfriend disappears and his father dies. The director plays like the sad-faced Buster Keaton doing "Waiting for Godot." He's also been compared to Hal Hartley and Groucho Marx and Yiddish humor, but what we need to remember is that this is a series of disjointed cartoons. Suleiman's aim is not to tell a story but to delineate with bitter, detached irony the miseries and absurdities of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. In doing so he has had full access to a large Israeli cast, including actual or former IDF border guards.

The movie was originally nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film -- and then taken off the list because Palestine 'is not a legitimate nation.' That's what Golda Meir used to say; the Motion Picture Academy is more backward than the judges at Cannes, which gave Suleiman two jury prizes. Politics are different in the USA, as observers of world events are currently all too well aware, and "Divine Intervention" is unlikely to be as well appreciated in America as in Europe. American and English reviews have frequently focused on the movie's weaknesses and overlooked its elegance and restrained passion.

Indeed there are subtleties that will elude an audience from outside Israel. I'm told that the green envelopes "E.S.'s" father is opening are government mail, whatever you get from different ministries and departments, and the big blue envelope pertains to income tax. It just looked like junk mail to me. In another sequence something happened with the owner of a house who was the object of fire bombings, but I didn't follow the outcome.

Suleiman's black images of Israeli occupation resemble the humor of the concentration camp; the occupation is like a summery, open air detention center, the Jews giving back what they got under the Nazis to the people they got their land from. The final aim is still extermination and removal of a people.

The detachment of Suleiman's view, and perhaps the warped sensibilities that repression and frustration cause, are reflected in the meanness and feuding he depicts as existing daily among the Palestinians themselves and their contacts with Israelis; the alienation in the constant sound of Hebrew in the ears of Arabic speakers. Neighbors throw garbage in each other's yards, puncture a boy's lost soccer ball before returning it; drive along greeting acquaintances and cursing them under their breath.

Between Jerusalem, where E.S. lives, and Ramallah, where his girlfriend is, lies one of the infamous checkpoints: the lovers' separation causes them to meet at a vacant lot next to it. They stare ahead with blank sadness, twining their hands together. Their lovemaking is reduced to that tiny gesture. They sit impassively for hours, as Palestinians must sit in car queues for hours at the checkpoints. Sometimes Suleiman shifts to fantasy: an apricot pit E.S. flips out his car window blows up a tank, or a pretty girl (his girlfriend?) in tight clothes leaves her car, and approaches the elevated observation cabin of a checkpoint, to the consternation and arousal of the young Israeli guards. She walks past, and the whole observation cabin magically disintegrates. (These two sequences had to be staged and shot in France.)

Another time a lively new guard takes over with a megaphone barking commands at Palestinian motorists, stealing a young man's imported leather jacket, ordering others to switch cars, making another sing along with him, humiliating them all, and then suddenly waving the whole line of cars through. The Palestinians are at the mercy of individual personalities, and have only a choice between humiliation and cruelty.

E.S.'s father sits in his pajamas having breakfast seemingly for hours opening the mail mentioned above, eating an egg. He smokes a cigarette and then gets up, and falls onto the floor.

Hospital scenes follow which emphasize how everybody, patients, doctors and nurses, constantly smokes.

Periodically we see Suleiman/E.S. pulling large Post It's off a wall, representing all the little episodes of the movie.

In an elaborate sequence toward the end five Israelis do target practice in formation like chorus girls shooting up effigies of a Palestinian woman -- the girlfriend -- wearing a kufia mask. Finally the real woman emerges from behind the one remaining effigy, dodges dozens of bullets, flies into the air transmogrified into a martyr, emits stones that knock down the men, blows them up with grenades, and spins off in the air like a Ninja. This, and the opening sequence in which Arab boys chase and stab a costumed Santa Claus, have been criticized in English-language reviews as too vicious or too fanciful, but they accurately represent the workings of a tormented Palestinian mind.

It's important to remember that there's no intention to tell a connected story here; Suleiman is an observer and note-taker. Returned to Jerusalem since 1994, he lived abroad for a decade before that, mostly in New York. Like all Palestinians he is rootless and international, treated like dirt in his native land. The power of his observations is in their coolness and wry humor.

For all the explosions, shooting, beatings (of a snake, in one scene) and expressions of hostility, the movie is marked by its distance, stillness, and restraint. People are seen from afar, head on, or from above. Perhaps the most memorable image is the one of E.S. and his girlfriend staring impassively forward for hours at the checkpoint. Passive endurance is the hallmark of Palestinian survival as seen in "Divine Intervention."

A highly symbolic scene is the repeated one of a bus stop where one man is standing and another comes and says, "There's no bus," and the first one says, "I know!" This pinpoints the hopeless situation of the whole society.

Despite the links with classic movie comedy tradition, Suleiman has a unique and sadder vision. One may or may not find the scenes amusing or entertaining but one does get a sense of the average Palestinian's predicament. Bitter irony and detachment are two of the only ways of dealing with it.

A story that takes place in Nazareth, and at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, as well as a few scenes in Jerusalem. The film starts out showing the daily lives of Arab Israelis in Nazareth, and the almost depressing routine that revolves around unemployment and high taxes (the green envelopes are government mail, whatever you get from different ministries and departments, and the big blue envelope was income tax). It shows Palestinian suffering at Israeli checkpoints and road blocks. The whole story revolves around this one checkpoint where a man from Nazareth meets this lady from Ramallah and observe. At one point in the movie it shows the tension between the Arab and the Jew, and the courage and defiance that come with it. And finally there's a Ninja scene where the girl fights these Israeli soldiers that are shooting at pictures of her (in Matrix-like action). I would recommend this film to someone who doesn't know much about Israel/Palestine and what's going on over there. I would also recommend it to those who do know what's going on and would like to see a different twist to it. Extremely informative...

Those of you who are heading the theaters to watch Palestinian film showing refugee camps - bare footed kids with running noses , or poor women weeping miserably over their loved ones who were killed by the Israeli soldiers..... are in for a major disappointment ! Elia Suleiman puts on screen the OTHER Palestinian : the highly sophisticated intellect who is torn between the nothingness of his home town - ghetto like Nazareth , and his almost impossible love life on the Jerusalem - Ramalla checkpoint , watching impotently the daily satiric yet agonizing incidents at the Israeli checkpoint from his car , and time and time again , amidst the harsh reality and killing routine we find him escaping to fantasy , and it is these fantasy dream-like scenes that make the reality of the film .

A Palestinian woman goes through the extremely secured Israeli checkpoint and passes to the other side causing the checkpoint tower to collapse . The woman in the film is the all-mighty woman, she is the mother , spouse , and daughter of the Palestinian society who takes matters into her own hands and who makes the whole world to bow and bend in front of her strength . She is the Palestinian Ninja fighter who refuses to be the martyr. She is blown up to a higher level becoming a Jesus like figure ,yet not turning the other cheek but fighting and setting new rules for the other side.The scene is full of contradictions: the highly equipped Israeli commando fighters against the solemn Palestinian who merely fights with stones[bringing to mind the first Intifada],and political symbols such as the map of the Palestinian shape boomerang and the appearance of the Palestinian flag underneath the Israelis feet . The film is funny ,even hilarious, enormously witty ,and the language diverts from direct and realistic to symbolic and surreal. Elia Suleiman fluently speaks both languages ,telling the story - or stories - of thousands of Palestinians and yet telling his own saga, in a voice so hush-hush ,clever ,subtle and so artistic that brilliantly makes this film a masterpiece.

Maha Haj-Assal NAZARETH .

Divine Intervention is a clever example of how human intelligence on behalf of a filmmaker is crucial for making a film which is enjoyable, successful,popular,crowd puller and of course followed by hard to please critics.Normally it is seen that very few film directors work hard on the overall development of their scripts.It is this issue which has been deftly handled by Elie Suleiman. He has given ample breathing space to all his characters regardless of their order of appearance. That is why there is no reference to neither major nor minor characters.There is no doubt that in terms of content,narrative style and visual presentation it is a different film. What makes it unique is that in some manner the director has resorted to cheap gimmicks.For example-when the film starts there is hardly any glimpse of Israel-Palestine conflict but as it progresses this conflict comes in the foreground.This is something which can be easily detected.The best thing that can be said about Divine Intervention is that it can be watched by all and sundry. This is not at all a mean achievement for a film from Palestine.

The problem in the Middle East is very complex and not black & white. To make a film about the ongoing war between two tribes who have the same forefathers and have to share a piece of land is not easy!! The only way, in my opinion, to make a film about it, is to make it light and transparent. And that is exactly what Elia Suleiman does. Absurd scenes (the Palestinian beauty who turns into a Ninja and destroy the acrobatic Israeli marksmen), but also very subtil stories about Palestinians who make life miserable for each other in the Occupied terretories. He uses several biblical symbols (eating eggs, killing a snake) and uses repetition to show how life gets by when you're living like subhumans. My cup of tea!!

These are vignettes or slices of Palestinian life in Nazareth and Jerusalem. The segments evoke varying degrees of humor some bordering on the farcical or even absurd. Elia Sulaiman is able to capture reactions of people in different situations and share them with the audience. The lack of dialogue (like in pantomime) ironically adds clarity to the intended message. The film suggests that this kind of behaviour is a product of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Whatever, the point is these segments relate to day-to-day lives of ordinary people. It could apply, perhaps, to people in other places. But wherever we are, we strive to live our life as best as we can in the face of adversity with a sense of humor and lightness of being.

Given my fascination with the modern tragedy of the Palestinian's predicament, I thus was very willing to like Divine Intervention. But ultimately, this was a case of lofty ideals blinding the basic craft of good cinema.

The real life issues (Israeli Occupation of Palestinian lands/ Oppression of the Palestinian people) genuinely demands our attention and worthy concerns. And from what I have read, believed they were better explored in other non-fiction documentaries like "A Wedding in Ramallah" or "Gaza strip".

Which was a real pity. As Divine Intervention, being a fictional feature, could have achieved a dramatic potential and political resonance far wider than above-mentioned works. Instead, what I have seen was a painfully average work of an aspiring auteur, who harboured artistic ambition beyond his reach.

Yes, the themes explored may be noble and the real life issues behind the film may even be deemed absurd, ironic and ultimately tragic. But first and foremost, Divine Intervention needed to be judged as a film. However "holy" the subject matter, our sympathies for the real life issues need not compensate for what can seen so clearly as poor execution and misdirection. As such, as a film, it didn't work for me.

Granted, there may be brilliant parts of surreal beauty (the Santa Claus and Ninja sequence comes to mind). But ultimately these vignettes of uneven quality are marred by the glaring failure of its disjointed, disengaging whole. It's sophomoric metaphors and monotonous, pseudo artistic rythms, left me cold and empty.

Amazing really, how a film can show so much promise yet fails so miserably. That said, I'll still give it a passing 6/10 for some truly inspired moments. But that's about it.

a beautifully shot, well thought-through film about the despair of life in the Palestine territories. the arrows of blame are pointing to all directions, making it a complex statement of a dead-end situation.

this is a film about life cut off by barriers- physical, psychological, communicational and political- between countries people, lovers and neighbors. and about the yearning to brake through them.

through a complex critique of both sides of the conflict, the viewer is turned into a silent witness of oppression corruption and decay.

it's visual far exceeding previous films originating palestine or israel, each frame is an artwork, symbolic and poetic.

a cinematographic pearl. a must-see.

I've never really seen this type of surreal, random and imaginative film come out of the countries around the Middle East so kudos for taking a creative risk. I can't really say there is a clear plot or narrative. The viewer is taken on an unclear path around story snippets from military guarded checkpoints, unfriendly neighbor skirmishes, perhaps an homage to the short film "The Red Balloon" and then an action packed surreal scene involving guns. Most of the film is told through interesting visuals and lengthy takes, which was a positive. It gave ample time to try to interpret what on earth is going on, which for me was a fruitless endeavor. I can't say I enjoyed the film but I respect its approach.

It's not plot driven, OK; it's not a character study, fine; there's no action, alright; there's no point, hmmm...

Maybe it's supposed to represent the boredom and absurdity of living in Palistine and parts of Israel these days in a state of violence, petty disagreements, deep rooted hostility, etc. But mostly it's long, long scenes of nothing happening - or things which look like they're dripping with meaning (a checkpoint tower crashing to the ground, an Arafat balloon floating into Jerusalem, a crouching tiger women deflecting bullets into a halo) but when you try to derive some meaning, there's no there there.

Bonus: you can watch this film in fast forward and it will make absolutely no difference except that it might be slightly less boring.

Set in the segregated world of checkpoints and bombings of the Middle East, two lovers are separated - one living in Jerusalem, the other in Ramallah. Despite the threats posed by bombings and shootings, and the deterrents of the checkpoints, the two arrange secret meetings.

I have done it too, so I won't make too big a deal out of it; but too many of us doff our caps at the sight of a foreign film, too many reviews are very forgiving of flaws foreign films that we would go to town on in a western film. That appears to be the case here, reviewers seem to have sat down looking for `a deep film that will touch them' and that is what they have found - and in doing so they fall for much of the film's forced pretension. The plot is very difficult to describe and it is not easily forgotten - I found it very difficult to get into it simply because it was episodic and lacking a flow to it; it is more interested in delivering metaphors and symbolism that don't necessarily work that well.

I, like many, do not and cannot ever hope to fully understand what life is like in this part of the world; therefore I was not able to get the meaning or, if there were any, the jokes. I have lived the vast majority of my life in a world of terrorism and check points - but this film is more specific than that general experience. However, for me the film was still too shrouded in mystery and `deep' scenes - long scenes pass without dialogue; the camera stares at a road for minute after minute and so on - it smacks of a film trying too hard to be arty and pretentious. This wouldn't be too bad if it had worked - but, for me, it simply didn't do anything. Some of it I'm sure is daring, and I wanted to find the Power Rangers style moment funny - but the tone of the film stopped it working.

As far as characters, the film barely tries - the focus being `meaningful' swipes and jokes. Five minutes after the film ended I could barely recall character names - and there wasn't really an attempt to develop people within this smugly smart piece.

Overall, if you know the area and are willing to work past all this film's flaws then you may get something from this. However, the curious audience looking to be helped through the film or just looking for something interesting will likely be left as cold, disinterested and poorly served as I was.

I'm in a Cannes mood last night, so I'm trying to watch any Palme d'Or nominees/winners. This showed on Netflix so I decided to watch it.

Yadon Ilaheyya or Divine Intervention is a black comedy film set in Israel. It's one of those movies that really isn't about anything. It shows vignettes of different people on their daily routine, and suddenly it will shock you with ABSURD moments. It also has very little dialogues.

This is an absurdist film that also shows the conflict happening in Israel. It has one of the most original style of filmmaking I've seen. Honestly, I wasn't really bored. There is one problem for me though. Honestly, I don't really know much about the politics in Israel so I didn't really get some of it, like the meaning of the flying balloon for instance. I wish they gave some Eli5, like how the movie Argo explained things before starting. Before watching this or any kinds of movies like this, I guess you gotta research or google some Eli5 articles about it before watching so you gotta at least understand some of it.

Whoever thought it was boring missed an important point: The movie itself (the rhythm, the structure, "no point") is a metaphor for the lives of those people. If it were any more lively or "entertaining" it would have been completely inconsistent.

It is not just the (very funny) jokes that make the movie interesting, but the attitude it emanates. The individual scenes (which are ALL linked to others by the way) express the feeling of indifference developed by the characters after years of living in a land torn by conflict. But they can't just stop living. On one hand, the immensely amusing daily situations prove that they're alive. But on the other hand, everyone in the movie seems to have grown immune to humour.

This movie not only unites strong elements, like hidden symbols, attractively filmed shots, great music, and occasional bursts of humour and action. It also paints a subtle portrait of characters that may or may not reflect reality. It conveys a certain mood with remarkable coherence. The state of mind of people who are living surreal lives but can't take it any more. When will the boiler explode? How long can this go on?

Divine intervention contains poignant scenes of humiliation, defiance, love, insanity, and also scenes of simple mundane living. All that with as little words as possible. I saw it for the first time at a European film festival in Beirut two years ago. I've seen it three times since, and every time I laugh less, but my admiration grows a little for this rich movie.

To begin with: this is a very good movie. This is at least how I felt while watching it. It will satisfy you in multiple ways because it works on multiple layer. The one the was most present to me is the critical abstraction from everyday life in an occupied region. In conceptual an visual dense shots it deals with interpersonal communication under constant pressure. Later on the view is opened to the political dimension of interchange between the two (or one and a half) states. At the same time you will get emotionally involved with several person and there very own way of individual reception of the situation that eventually will lead to resistance. Interwoven with this is a symbolic discourse sometimes philosophic sometimes mere ironic, forcing the audience to think, to make there mind up on what they are seeing. This all is refined with a dark, omnipresent but deeply human humour. For me it worked.

9 out of 10 and a strong recommendation to see it for all those who love cinema that keeps one thinking.

i swear the god that what i'm saying now is not because i'm from the arabic egyptian audience. first of all when i read every arabic review about this movie i thought (of course they are over rating)and so i had great expectations when i was goin to see it and i was sure that i will hate the movie because of my expectations of course it will be less than that, but after i saw the movie i just said the best picture i've ever seen and all my friends said the same thing because we were amazeb by the beautiful takes every scene is a masterpiece i'm not over rating i swear , and the director (who is the actor) barely used dialogs and you will never be bored because the scenes are very artistic and has this sence of humore. forget about politics and this race stuff and see the movie from the eye of the beholder you will see a very artistic movie maybe the best ever. the sound track is 10/10 and the acting also and the directing is 20/10 i'm so happy that i saw that movie .

This was a strange movie. When it came out in the theatres I never saw it. I had heard good things about it though so when I saw it on DVD at the rental store, I thought it would be a sure bet. But boy, were we surprised.

I agree with some others here that it's hard to describe the movie. I also thought it was way too slow, and it would have worked as a short movie, not a 1h40' one. And laugh? Not once. I didn't think it was funny at all. Strange, yes, funny, no! To me the movie was a bit like a dance, modern ballet. As that, it could have been interesting, but I'm not sure it was interesting as a movie.

Then, I had expected a movie that was subtle in depicting the Isreali-Palestinian conflict, some political correctness and some evidence of understanding 'the other side'. However, there was little of that! It was very pro-palestinian in not a very nuanced way.

All in all, I think the idea was interesting but it was too long, and nothing happened in the beginning for a long long time. It was simply boring! ***** out of 10.

a funny and brilliant film. i saw it at the film festival in göteborg after the director had held a lecture about the script (he is such a humoristic guy). the film doesn't really have a story but is put together by small stories and ideas, mainly told in pictures and sound but very few words. it works very well i think. it has some of the funniest and most eventive ideas i have ever seen on film. go see it. i deffinently will again.

This movie is straight out of left field. It is not really a comedy nor is it a drama. It is a quirky meditation on the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli rule, seen from ground level. There is so much pro-Israel material in our media, that it is refreshing to see that Palestinians are human after all, and even possess a sense of humor and irony. Go see this movie if you like to be jarred out of your daily stupor.

A Brazilian cable television is presenting "Yadon Ilaheyya" this month in its "Cult" channel. I saw the trailer and listened to the advertisement, and decided to see this movie. Indeed it is an absurd boring pretentious dumb pointless disconnected crap about the conflict in the Middle East, and together with "Soultangler", they certainly are the worst movies I have tried to see. I really wasted forty-three minutes of my life watching the first half of this crap, highly indicated for torturing enemies. How can this movie be awarded and nominated to prizes inclusive in Cannes? My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "Intervenção Divina" ("Divine Intervention")