Divine Intervention Article 1

Divine Intervention: in his latest award winning film Divine Intervention, Palestinian director, Elia Suleiman, uses humour to highlight the painful absurdity of life under Israeli occupation. (Mosaic).
Article from:
The Middle East
Article date:
February 1, 2003
Author:
Andrews, Beverly

Elia Suleiman takes the central role of E.S. in Divine Intervention, playing the son of a Palestinian businessman living in Jerusalem. E.S's ordered life is completely shattered when his father, in a futile attempt at breaking a chain of petty feuds, collapses with a heart attack. E.S. finds his life is now divided between daily trips to the hospital to visit his ailing father and trying to maintain his relationship with a Palestinian woman living in Ramallah. But even travel is no longer simple in present day Israel and E.S.'s life is now filled with the same frustration suffered by so many Palestinians as they struggle to maintain some semblance of a normal existence while living in the middle of chaos. E.S.'s life is further complicated by the fact that his Ramallah-based lover cannot enter Jerusalem, so their meetings must take place in a deserted lot next to an Israeli checkpoint.
The film mixes the surreal with brutal reality. We witness the reality of the daily lives of Palestinians living under occupation and learn of their aspirations for `normality'. One scene shows a long line of cars at an Israeli security checkpoint. The queue of cars appears to stretch for miles with their drivers sitting in resigned silence. E.S.'s lover daydreams of simply walking past the guards in her high heels and designer clothes, leaving them speechless in her wake. At another point in the film when E.S. and his lover are seated in his car, he fantasises about blowing up a balloon with the face of Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat on the front. As the balloon floats above the heads of the security guards they are torn between trying to shoot it down or simply standing and watching it as it floats away. By the time they have made a decision to shoot it down it is too late, the balloon is gently gliding away towards the heart of Jerusalem.

Because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Elia Suleiman chose to shoot Divine Intervention in Paris, at an army camp. Bizarrely, filming coincided with a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, an irony which did not escape the attention of Suleiman. "While I was destroying Israeli tanks on set, a demonstration against the visit of Ariel Sharon was taking place in Paris," he recalled, going on to lament the general apathy which, he feels, surrounds any Palestinian protest.

Shot in the form of a Buster Keaton silent comedy Divine Intervention not only highlights the tragicomic aspects of life under occupation but also looks at the peculiar situation many Palestinians living within the borders of Israel now find themselves in. Suleiman observes: "We Palestinians living in Israel, are the shy ones. The inhibited. We act as if we're closet-case Palestinians. Our sisters and brothers in the West Bank and Gaza generally ignite uprisings first, and then we join in ... it is our sisters and brothers who keep reminding us of our silent and tragic existence."

As the film progresses its tone gradually changes from one of gentle humour to that of simmering anger. Perhaps the most controversial moment in the narrative occurs when Israeli soldiers use a cardboard cut-out of a female suicide bomber for target practice only to rind the figure magically comes to life. She then turns into an avenging warrior, who takes on the squadron and wins. The sequence is disturbing but in the context of the film it translates as a desire to feel empowered, rather than a cry for violence or revenge.

Divine Intervention is a remarkable and thought provoking account of life in a war zone. The film shows the daily violence many now take for granted and the overall sense of humiliation Palestinians experience on a daily basis, as well as highlighting the ability human beings have to adapt to almost any way of life. But Divine Intervention also suggests that the prevailing situation cannot go on forever. The final symbolic scene in the film shows E.S. and his mother sitting inside their home watching a pressure cooker as it overflows.

Elia Suleiman
Born in Nazareth in 1960, Elia Suleiman moved to New York in 1981 where he lived until 1993. While in the US he was a frequent guest lecturer at universities, art institutions and museums. His first two short films, Introduction to the End of an Argument (1992) and Homage By Assassination (1993), won widespread recognition and numerous awards. The recipient of the Rockefeller Award for work achievement, his articles have been published in Arabic, English and French.
Suleiman returned to Jerusalem in 1994, with a commission from the European Community to found a film and media department at Bir Zeit University. His first feature Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) was awarded the Best Debut Feature Prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. Since then Suleiman has directed two short works, The Arab Dream (1998) and Cyber Palestine (2000) and co-directed the feature length documentary War and Peace in Vesoul, with Israeli director Amos Gitai.

A. "Divine Intervention: in his latest award winning film Divine Intervention, Palestinian director, Elia Suleiman, uses humour to highlight the painful absurdity of life under Israeli occupation. (Mosaic)." The Middle East. IC Publications Ltd. 2003. HighBeam Research. 17 Dec. 2009 .