I'm glad the Academy has come around and did away with the Palestine-isn't-really-a-nation bullshit. It would be a shame for this movie to be denied wider recognition for purely political reasons.
Almost entirely plotless, Divine Intervention is an intelligent rumination on the absurdity of trying to carry on with daily life in a perpetual war zone. Some of the more comic scenes include an Israeli policeman asking a Palestinian prisoner for help in giving a tourist directions, and a bizarre ninja-death star fantasy sequence involving a Palestinian women defeating a group of Israeli security officers. Mixed in with the comedy, we see glimpses of Palestinians finding ways to reclaim their lives and their freedom through the smallest of acts: a beautiful Palestinian woman brazenly walks through a checkpoint despite the presence of heavily armed Israeli guards, two motorists lock eyes at a traffic light and refuse to look away even when the light changes and people start to honk, two lovers stealing a moment to hold hands in the parking lot of a checkpoint.
Divine Intervention is funny, but the sadness and frustration that simmers just beneath the surface makes for a truly stunning and affecting film.
****
"Virtue isn't virtue unless it slams up against vice. So consequently, your virtue's not real virtue. Until it's been tested... tempted."
---Andre Braugher as Det. Frank Pembleton from Homicide: Life on the Street (one of the best TV shows ever)