Yadon ilaheyya (2002)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Elia Suleiman

Writer:

Elia Suleiman (writer)

Release Date:

2 October 2002 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War | Comedy

Plot:

Separated by a checkpoint, Palestinian lovers from Jerusalem and Ramallah arrange clandestine meetings.

Plot Keywords:

Checkpoint | Jerusalem | Balloon | Mail | Hospital

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Elia Suleiman	...	E.S.
Manal Khader	...	Woman
George Ibrahim	...	Santa Clause
Amer Daher	...	Auni
Jamel Daher	...	Jamal
Lufuf Nuweiser	...	Neighbor with American van
Read Masarweh	...	Abu Basil
Bassem Loulou	...	Abu Amer
Salvia Nakkara	...	Adia
Naaman Jarjoura	...	Uncle
Rama Nashashibi	...	Um Elias
Saiman Natour	...	Friend
Fairos Hakim	...	Bus stop shopkeeper
Khalil Jarjoura	...	Number 6 man
Hamada Shamout	...	Basil

Also Known As:

Chronicle of Love and Pain
D.I.
Divine Intervention
Göttliche Intervention - Eine Chronik von Liebe und Schmerz (Germany)
Intervention divine (France)

Runtime:

92 min | France:100 min (Cannes Film Festival)

Country:

France | Morocco | Germany | Palestine

Language:

Arabic | Hebrew | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Denmark:7 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

East Jerusalem, Palestine

Company:

Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Trivia:

The music used in the opening credit sequence is from an Arabic song by Mohammed Abdulwahab from the 1950s called "Me, suffering, and your love" which are what the majority of the film is about.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the border, when several cars are told to turn around, the camera is reflected in the side of the cars for several seconds.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Humbert Balsan, producteur rebelle (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Wala ala baloh

A Beautiful Unconventional Palestinian Film

Those of you who are heading the theaters to watch Palestinian film showing refugee camps - bare footed kids with running noses , or poor women weeping miserably over their loved ones who were killed by the Israeli soldiers..... are in for a major disappointment ! Elia Suleiman puts on screen the OTHER Palestinian : the highly sophisticated intellect who is torn between the nothingness of his home town - ghetto like Nazareth , and his almost impossible love life on the Jerusalem - Ramalla checkpoint , watching impotently the daily satiric yet agonizing incidents at the Israeli checkpoint from his car , and time and time again , amidst the harsh reality and killing routine we find him escaping to fantasy , and it is these fantasy dream-like scenes that make the reality of the film .

A Palestinian woman goes through the extremely secured Israeli checkpoint and passes to the other side causing the checkpoint tower to collapse . The woman in the film is the all-mighty woman, she is the mother , spouse , and daughter of the Palestinian society who takes matters into her own hands and who makes the whole world to bow and bend in front of her strength . She is the Palestinian Ninja fighter who refuses to be the martyr. She is blown up to a higher level becoming a Jesus like figure ,yet not turning the other cheek but fighting and setting new rules for the other side.The scene is full of contradictions: the highly equipped Israeli commando fighters against the solemn Palestinian who merely fights with stones[bringing to mind the first Intifada],and political symbols such as the map of the Palestinian shape boomerang and the appearance of the Palestinian flag underneath the Israelis feet . The film is funny ,even hilarious, enormously witty ,and the language diverts from direct and realistic to symbolic and surreal. Elia Suleiman fluently speaks both languages ,telling the story - or stories - of thousands of Palestinians and yet telling his own saga, in a voice so hush-hush ,clever ,subtle and so artistic that brilliantly makes this film a masterpiece.

Maha Haj-Assal NAZARETH .