Divine Intervention

2002 · directed by Elia Suleiman

Rating
71/100
Hit
no

Santa Claus tries to outrun a gang of knife-wielding youth. It's one of several vignettes of Palestinian life in Israel - in a neighborhood in Nazareth and at Al-Ram checkpoint in East Jerusalem. Most of the stories are droll, some absurd, one is mythic and fanciful; few words are spoken. A man who goes through his mail methodically each morning has a heart attack. His son visits him in the hospital. The son regularly meets a woman at Al-Ram; they sit in a car, hands caressing. Once, she defies Israeli guards at the checkpoint; later, ninja-like, she takes on soldiers at a target range. A red balloon floats free overhead. Neighbors toss garbage over walls. Life goes on until it doesn't.

Divine Intervention (2002), directed by Elia Suleiman, rates 71/100. See how its director, cast and crew rate across their careers.

Cast

  • Elia Suleiman
  • Nayef Fahoum Daher
  • Manal Khader
  • George Ibrahim
  • Jamel Daher
  • Amer Daher
  • Lutuf Nouasser
  • Riad Masarweh
  • Bassem Loulou
  • Salwa Nakkara

Crew

  • Marc-André Batigne — Director of Photography
  • Véronique Lange — Editor
  • Elia Suleiman — Writer

More from Elia Suleiman

  1. To Each His Own Cinema (2007) — 79/100
  2. The Time That Remains (2009) — 75/100
  3. It Must Be Heaven (2019) — 73/100
  4. 7 Days in Havana (2012) — 51/100

How these numbers work: Methodology