Lemon Tree

Salma is a widow living in the West Bank. She lives off her grove; there are lemon trees she inherited from her father and they have stood there for fifty years. One day a new neighbour moves in across from her: the Israeli defence minister. A security team comes and inspects the grove. A decision is made; the trees block the view and an attacker could hide there. They must be cut down. Salma objects. She finds a lawyer and goes to court. The case goes as far as the supreme court. The minister's wife looks at the grove and is uneasy too. Eran Riklis directs. Hiam Abbass plays Salma; Ali Suliman, Doron Tavory and Rona Lipaz-Michael are in the cast. It is an Israeli, German and French co-production. The film won the audience award in the Panorama section at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Its ground is a real case; a similar matter went through the Israeli courts. The matter it treats is the reason of security; the film gives it not through a large conflict but through one grove. The narrative sets two women opposite each other; each is alone on her own side and they cannot speak. Hiam Abbass carries the part with little speech and the narrative rests on looks. The film does not put any side entirely in the right and the lawyer is flawed too. The ending gives no victory; the ruling is partial and the situation does not change. Its limit is method; the narrative leans on metaphor and the argument is at times too explicit. Who it is for: viewers who like Middle Eastern cinema and political drama. Who it is not for: it is slow, argumentative, and the ending bitter.