Divine Intervention (2002)

DIVINE INTERVENTION  (2002)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Elia Suleiman
    Elia Suleiman, Manal Khader, Nayef Fahoum Daher
A man driving down a highway throws an apricot pit out the window and a tank explodes. A balloon bearing the likeness of Yasser Arafat floats over a military checkpoint whose on-duty guards radio headquarters for instructions on whether or not to shoot it down. An attractive woman strolls through the same checkpoint, distracting the guards, and a lookout tower collapses in her wake. A man systematically gets rid of his garbage by throwing it in a neighbor's garden, and complains loudly when she finally starts throwing it back. A firing-range target in the shape of a Palestinian woman magically comes to life and retaliates against the synchronized gunmen taking aim at her.  A wry, deadpan comedy about the absurdity of life in Israel/Palestine. It opens with Santa Claus being mugged on the outskirts of Nazareth, and ends with two people sitting on a couch watching a pressure cooker hissing on a stove. One of them suggests that the other get up and turn the kettle off, but neither of them makes a move. The kettle hisses on, the final metaphor in a movie full of metaphors reflecting both the universal human condition and the particular ongoing tragic farce that's called the Middle East.