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Divine Intervention (Yadon Ilaheyya) Palestine/France
'always imaginative, often arresting' Divine Intervention is a movie of memorable moments.' -Variety
Collecting both the Jury Prize and FIPRESCI awards at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Elia Suleiman's second feature, Divine Intervention offers a singular view of Palestinian communities fraying at the edges'conveyed with a Jaques Tatiesque absurdist sensibilty.
Subtitled A Chronicle of Love and Pain, this film has an episodic structure, with seemingly disconnected vignettes of life in the troubled region. Wryly humourous scenes'The film opens with a Santa Claus character being chased up a hill by a pack of abusive, stone-wielding youths'nestle with poignant moments'a couple attempt a romance, despite being separated by a military checkpoint'cumulating in powerful, affecting cinema.
'Divine Intervention concerns a people trapped in a land that denies them basic human rights, who must lead quiet, desperate lives. In the laughter Suleiman creates from such bleakness, he and the viewer experience a euphoric sensation of triumph in the face of adversity.' -The Hollywood Reporter
D/S Elia Suleiman P Humbert Balsan WS Flach Pyramide International L Arabic, Hebrew w/English subtitles TD 35mm/Col/2002/92mins
Elia Suleiman was born in Nazareth, Israel in 1960. Films include: Chronicle of a Disappearance (MIFF 2004).