Divine Intervention
Arab Film Distribution | Release Date: January 17, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The Divine Intervention of the title lies somewhere between hope and fantasy. In a world in which Santa Claus is assaulted in Nazareth, what do you have left? Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
About the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it treats war as a cosmic joke and its participants as hapless but recognizably human clowns. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A movie of long, expressive silences, Divine Intervention articulates things that have never been articulated, at least on the screen. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A one-of-a-kind experience, a Molotov cocktail of a seriocomedy. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
Sly and corrosively funny political black comedy. Read full review
80
Film ThreatDonald J. Levit
Wonderfully effective, funny and yet horrific film. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Antic, puzzling and disturbing film. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Guaranteed to infuriate anyone with strongly partisan opinions about the region. The film offers up simultaneous critiques of Palestinian and Israeli extremism, but the most radical thing about it is that it's often disquietingly funny. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention is a cure for nagging ethnic generalities. This Palestinian sort-of-comedy has a sly wit that amuses and disturbs in equal, salubrious measure. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
It is impossible not to marvel at Mr. Suleiman's knack for turning rage and hopelessness into burlesque. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
At its best and quietest, Divine Intervention suggests -- that levity and threat are eternally clasped together, like the lovers' twining hands. [20 January 2003, p. 94]
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
As pristine a distillation of Palestinian rage as I've seen outside the evening news. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A mordant and bleak comedy, almost without dialogue, about Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The Academy accepts submissions only from real countries, and Palestine isn't one. This is as good a joke, and as dark, as anything in the movie. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
Romantic and even silly -- a combination that makes Divine Intervention an almost irresistible work of art. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Divine Intervention is the "Dr. Strangelove" of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, bringing barely acknowledged fears to the surface so they can be understood. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
This hilariously low-key film is punctuated by inspired wish-fulfillment fantasy sequences filled with pro-Palestinian imagery that would be taboo in a western film. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
What Suleiman is trying to say becomes less important than the increasing boldness with which he says it. In the end, Divine Intervention has too many visionary setpieces, and not enough insight. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderMeredith Brody
Slight film of mostly comic tableaux. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
Always imaginative, often arresting, but sometimes just too clever by half. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It’s ridiculous and smart, hilarious and terrifying, difficult to swallow and probably a necessary antidote to the cacophonous history of a land that all too often seems anything but holy. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Too fragmented to be much more than a flip of the finger to history; the movie, with its mostly mute characters, is too content to plod. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Suleiman isn't much for words, but when he's ready for action, there's no hiding his anger. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Thereare moving moments in this over-hyped satire by the Israeli-Arab writer-director-actor Elia Suleiman, and it's fascinating to get a picture of daily life in prosperous Palestinian neighborhoods. Read full review
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