FILM SCREENINGS

Divine Intervention

2002. Palestine/France/Morocco. Written and directed by Elia Suleiman. With Suleiman, Emma Boltanski, Amer Daher. Subtitled “A Chronicle of Love and Pain,” Divine Intervention follows several interrelated characters as they struggle to maintain the veneer of normal life in Nazareth, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. The film unfolds with a series of expertly executed fantasy sequences and sight gags depicting the absurd and even perverse manifestations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in everyday events. A man with a failing business (the director’s father) takes matters into his own hands and tries to break a chain reaction of petty feuds, only to break down himself. The man’s son, while caring for his ailing father, steals intimate moments with his lover in a deserted lot beside a checkpoint, from which they witness daily hostilities and quotidian feuds. In Arabic, Hebrew; English subtitles. 92 min.