| Director | Elia Suleiman |
|---|
Divine Intervention while being a series of interconnected sketches, is a glimpse at life of Palestinians living under military occupation going in between the cities of Nazareth and Ramallah. E.S. lives in Nazareth while his father lives in Ramallah. The film begins by focusing on life in Ramallah with the Father for the first part of the film, bouncing between different stories of the neighbors within this area and the conflicts they undergo. Disputes between neighbors, Israeli police coming and going, the seizing of Palestinian owned things and places by the Israeli settlers, Palestinians interacting with/watching one another, etc.
In the second part of the film, E.S.'s Father has fallen ill and is in the hospital, he must now enter Ramallah and visit his father. While going in between Nazareth and Ramallah, E.S. begins meeting with The Woman in their cars at the border checkpoint between the two cities. The couple's clandestine meetings continue to take place throughout the rest of the film. Through them, viewers observe the Israeli military guards at the checkpoint as they interact with the Palestinians who are crossing into Nazareth.
The film is characterized by a lack of dialogue. The characters of the film are only able to observe the happenings of their everyday life without being able to interfere much as they are under military occupation and must adhere to it.
Sketches:
In Nazareth, Santa Claus runs away from children as gifts fall from his basket. He's been stabbed and leans against the ruin of a Franciscan chapel atop Mount Fear.
E.S.'s Father curses familiar faces as he drives through the streets.
Neighbors bicker over small stuff.
A Palestinian couple meets in a car at the border checkpoint between Ramallah and Nazareth.
More bickering neighbors.
A tourist asks an Israeli policeman for directions. Unable to help her himself, the policeman brings out a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner from the back of his van. The Palestinian tells her three different possible routes.
The couple is in the car again. The man (E.S.) blows up a red balloon with the face of Yasser Arafat drawn on it. He releases it near an Israeli checkpoint. An Israeli soldier is about to shoot it down but his comrade stops him. In the confusion, the couple are able to drive through the checkpoint together. The balloon floats across Jerusalem, eventually settling against the Dome of the Rock.
At night, the couple again in a car.
The next morning, five Israeli men practice an elaborate sequence of dance-like moves. Armed with guns, they repeatedly fire at targets painted like a Palestinian woman under the direction of a choreographer-officer. When one of the targets fails to fall to the ground, a real Palestinian woman (dressed like the targets) appears. The officer instructs his men to fire at her. In a supernatural feat, she gathers their bullets in the air around her and rises from the ground. The bullets form a crown of thorns around her head until she lets them fall to the ground. She then uses crescent-adorned stars and rocks to kill all but the officer. A helicopter appears to reinforce the Israelis, which the woman also easily destroys throwing a sheld with the form of Palestine. The dance choreographer watches helplessly and the woman disappears.
The film ends with E.S. and his mother watching their dinner cook in a pressure cooker.