Divine Intervention (Suleiman)
03-30-03 | 06:21 PM
#1
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DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Divine Intervention (Suleiman)
I first heard of Divine Intervention because it played at Cannes last year, and several film festivals since. Finally saw it yesterday and I was pretty impressed.
Its basically an absurdist look at happenings in the Nazareth, Jerusalem and Ramallah areas. The film starts off as a series of vignettes that start tying into each other but don't really form a story of any kind till almost a half hour into it. While presented in a very realistic fashion, the scenes have a certain humoristic/surreal quality to them. And then there's a couple of scenes that can only be pure fantasy.
I laughed at a lot of things but all the scenes have quite a tragic quality to them, but thankfully not in an overt way. The film won a couple of awards at Cannes, one "For its sensitive, amusing and innovative vision of a complex and topical situation and the tragic consequences that result from it."
I was surprised at how little dialogue there is in the film and this, to me, makes it fun to figure out what exactly the director (who also stars in the film as the main character) is trying to say. The love story on the border is particularly touching. And yet, I wonder why he clearly seems to show some allegiance towards the end of the film. Maybe its just because thats what he sees or wants to see, but it might have been the one uneven note in the whole film.
I recommend this film to anyone who has ever seen a foreign film, and even those who haven't because they don't like 'reading' their movies.
9/10
Its basically an absurdist look at happenings in the Nazareth, Jerusalem and Ramallah areas. The film starts off as a series of vignettes that start tying into each other but don't really form a story of any kind till almost a half hour into it. While presented in a very realistic fashion, the scenes have a certain humoristic/surreal quality to them. And then there's a couple of scenes that can only be pure fantasy.
I laughed at a lot of things but all the scenes have quite a tragic quality to them, but thankfully not in an overt way. The film won a couple of awards at Cannes, one "For its sensitive, amusing and innovative vision of a complex and topical situation and the tragic consequences that result from it."
I was surprised at how little dialogue there is in the film and this, to me, makes it fun to figure out what exactly the director (who also stars in the film as the main character) is trying to say. The love story on the border is particularly touching. And yet, I wonder why he clearly seems to show some allegiance towards the end of the film. Maybe its just because thats what he sees or wants to see, but it might have been the one uneven note in the whole film.
I recommend this film to anyone who has ever seen a foreign film, and even those who haven't because they don't like 'reading' their movies.
9/10
03-31-03 | 12:04 AM
#2
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From: Hong Kong
Good review mate! Hope to see it soon at the Hong Kong Film Fest - unless somehow I catch and die from this damn pneumonia thing. I'm so tired of wearing the f****** face mask whenever I have to go out (which isn't often). Already missed Ararat because of this.
YES I'M MAD!!!!
YES I'M MAD!!!!
03-31-03 | 07:46 PM
#3
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I really enjoyed the episodic nature of the film and the surreal moments really brought a unique charm to the movie. How the filmmakers chose and implemented the ending to the film was very clever and appropriate. Another recommendation to anyone who has the chance to see this film.
