Divine Intervention

A series of near-silent blackout sketches, Suleiman’s accomplished, provocative follow-up to his little-seen 1997 debut, Chronicle of a Disappearance, examines Middle Eastern strife with the deadpan whimsy of Jacques Tati. Not content to make his point obliquely, Suleiman resorts in the second half to an increasingly risible series of dopey fantasy set pieces and sledgehammer metaphors. More often than not, though, it’s funny as hell, making its occasional lapses into didacticism eminently forgivable.