Lemon Tree

Unrated

2/8/20081h 46m

Theatrical Release (US)

Overview:

Salma Zidane, a widow, lives simply from her grove of lemon trees in the West Bank's occupied territory. The Israeli defence minister and his wife move next door, forcing the Secret Service to order the trees' removal for security. The stoic Salma seeks assistance from the Palestinian Authority, Israeli army, and a young attorney, Ziad Daud, who takes the case. In this allegory, does David stand a chance against Goliath?

Director:

Eran Riklis

Status:

Released

Language:

Hebrew

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$7,199,534.00

Key words:

palestine
court case
widow
minister
house
safety
loneliness
neighbor
lawyer
terrorism
soldier
fence
lemon tree
orchard

Cast

Hiam Abbass

~ as ~

Selma Zidane

Tarik Kopty

~ as ~

Abu Hussam

Ali Suliman

~ as ~

Ziad Daud

Doron Tavory

~ as ~

Defense Minister Israel Navon

Rona Lipaz-Michael

~ as ~

Mira Navon

Amos Lavi

~ as ~

Commander Jacob

Amnon Wolf

~ as ~

Leibowitz

Liron Baranes

~ as ~

Gilad

Smadar Jaaron

~ as ~

Tamar Gera

Danny Leshman

~ as ~

Private Itamar 'Quickie'

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

b
badelf
Written 1 month(s) ago
7
Lemon Tree: The Fork in the Road We Didn't Take

"Lemon Tree" must be understood in its 2008 context, when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict existed at a different temperature than today. Both sides were slightly more tentative, and the possibility of human connection across the divide felt less remote. Viewed now, the film plays as a fork in the road, a moment when empathy might have prevailed over the machinery of occupation. That it didn't, makes "Lemon Tree" both hopeful and heartbreaking.

Director Eran Riklis takes a measured approach, perhaps too measured. The screenplay could have been bolder, pushing either Salma or the Defense Minister's wife to reach out more courageously across the wall that separates them. Still, what restraint costs in dramatic impact, it gains in quiet dignity. And Hiam Abbass delivers a phenomenal performance as Salma, her face a canvas of suppressed grief, defiance, and exhausted resilience.

The film's true power lies in its symbolic ending. Both the Defense Minister and Salma stand looking at "the Wall", a literal and metaphorical barrier that imprisons them both. One is trapped by power and paranoia, the other by powerlessness and occupation, but both are trapped nonetheless. The message resonates with prophetic clarity: If we do not have the courage to love even those whom we are told to hate, then we are imprisoned in hell, both here and hereafter.

"Lemon Tree" is a gentle film about an ungentle reality, a reminder that the path not taken haunts us as much as the one we chose.