Comments by Wong Lung Hsiang

Palestinian Title: Yadon Ilaheyya
Director: Elia Suleiman
Cast: Elia Suleiman
Genre: Drama Romance
Countries: Palestine and France
Language: Arabic, Hebrew
Year Released: 2001
Runtime: 92 min (France 100 min)

Suleiman has become more obsessed with a metaphorical/symbolic approach to film-making since his debut feature, Chronicle of a Disappearance. Now he adds a touch of magical realism, minimalist narration and deadpan jokes to make a comedy out of the Palestine-Israeli conflict, a subject matter which at first sight does not lend itself to humour. However, while he did a reasonably good job in integrating all these elements in Chronicle of a Disappearance, he has failed to achieve the same in Divine Intervention which comes with a grander premise. Therefore, while the film manages to engage me due to its content (the Palestine-Israeli conflict), I was quite underwhelmed by its execution.