Monday, February 10, 2003

Divine Intervention. . . .needed for this to be good

I saw the film Divine Intervention in the Angelika yesterday. The film frankly sucked. I do not say this out of any prejudice, other than the one I have for decent film. In the whole 92 minutes of the film there were about 10 lines spoken. The rest was just scenes of people doing dumb things, some of which were supposed to be metaphorical. It was the most boring hour and a half I have ever spent.

The movie has some Arabs coming, going and reading their mail and paving their road. There is a joke or two here and there about how pathetic the Israelis are, and there is a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon moment somewhere in there where a terrorist (who we are supposed to see as a Muslim Savior and also as Christ Himself) kills 5 Israelis who are in middle of target practice. Apparently the woman terrorist is supposed to be a hero of sorts. There is a kind of alluded to love interest there, which all takes place in a parking lot near a checkpoint.

This is not artsy, it is not entertaining, and it is not philosophical or political. It is just someone who thought that if an Arab makes a film there will be stupid people who will think it is profound. He was right, no doubt. There is no thinking person though who will find this film in the least bit interesting. I give it 5 black holes.