![](/img/wiki_up/lemon tree.jpg)
LEMON TREE
Israel, 2008, 106 minutes, Colour.
Hiam Abbass, Ali Suliman.
Directed by Eran Riklis.
For anyone who wants to appreciate different point of view of the state of Israel an d the attitudes towards the Palestinians, this film is well worth seeing. It also contains vividly alarming vistas of the separation wall, higher than one might have thought, a fortress wall keeping people in as well as out.
The plot is both realistic and symbolic. The new Israeli Defence Minister owns a mansion on the border with Palestine on the West Bank, looking straight out on a lemon grove inherited by Salma (Hiam Abbas) from her father. The Israeli Secret Service declare that the grove is a security risk for the Defence Minister, a cover for intrusive terrorists and the military decrees that it should be cut down. Salma takes a firm stand and eventually appeals through various courts up to the supreme court in Jerusalem.
The background to the story is the Israel- Lebanon war of 2006 with its sense of heightened tension. On the Israeli side, the minister is taking his job very seriously while trying to give a genial media impression about the lemons. His lonely wife has more empathy with Salma.
On the Palestinian side, Salma employs an eager young lawyer and finds him personally attractive (while being sternly warned against this by the local Palestinian authorities).
Hiam Abbas (Free Zone and Anna in The Nativity Story) is a woman of great beauty and bearing making Salma a woman of character and significant stature. The drama is movingly humane.
The political interest is in the Israeli courts and the drastic issues of security, the role of the media and the potential for freedom of the media in reporting a more sympathetic Palestinian perspective to an Israeli readership.
But, in the end, the wall cuts through between the minister gazing out at it and Salma on the other side in the grove looking at its looming presence.
1.The Israel- Palestinian situation? The 20th century history? 21st century tensions? Road map to peace? Possibility of peace and understanding?
2.The border with Palestine and Israel, the West Bank, the minister’s mansion and wealth, the poor woman’s grove? Symbols?
3.The locations, the border, the West Bank, Ramallah and the offices, the camp, Jerusalem, the city, the courts?
4.The song, ‘Lemon Tree’, and its lyrics? Applicable? The musical score?
5.The grove, fifty years, the fruitful lemon trees, Salma’s heritage, Salma caring for the trees, the old man helping her, his memories? The minister, his mansion, security needs? The letter sent to Salma, her not reading Hebrew, going to Ramallah for the authorities to read it? Their advice not to take compensation? Issues of justice? Israeli security? Power?
6.Salma, her age, mid-forties, widow, the portrait of her husband on the wall, her daughter and her children, unable to get to visit her, the son in Washington? The threat, her decision, her dignity? Her rights? The daughter recommending the lawyer, her visiting him, the discussions, coming to inspect, her working in the garden, its being fenced around, her climbing over the gate, being ousted at gunpoint by the Israeli security, the deterioration of the trees after the fence was put up, her trying to water them? The lawyer and his work, his relationship with her, her attraction to him – and the authorities coming to give her warning? The case, the military lawyers, the judge and her decision, the loss of the case, the decision to go to the Supreme Court, the need for preparations?
7.The minister, minister of defence, his parliamentary work, the cabinet, at home, the background of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon? war, security issues? The interviews by the media, his assistant (and possible relationship)? His wife, her loneliness, decorating the house? Her watching Salma, her reaction to the issue of the lemon grove, her compassion? Ringing her children – and their carefree attitude? Preparing for the dinner, the catering, the need for the lemons, going into the grove and taking them? Salma’s demands, the wife giving an apology? The dinner, the PM not able to come, the explosion, the attack? The wife’s decision to climb the fence, seeing Salma weep?
8.Israel, the reference to David and Goliath, the biblical background of Jezebel taking what was not hers, David and his greed and Nathan’s condemnation? Covetousness? Israeli arrogance, using the lemon grove, no apology? The minister, the press conferences, his expressing compassion but bowing always to the needs of security?
9.The security guard, trigger-happy, pulling the gun on Salma? The man in the tower, sleeping, nicknamed Quickie, his listening to the tapes for intelligence development?
10.The journalist, the friendship with the wife, talking, the interviews, the interview with Salma, the article, the headlines? The minister and his displeasure? The reaction of his wife – that everything in the articles she said?
11.The Supreme Court, Salma and her emotions, not being ready, the lawyer coming, the road block, the Palestinian authorities getting her through? The minister’s wife going? The decision? The reasons for security, the reasons for justice, the compromise and the pruning of some of the trees?
12.The lawyer, his life, his child in Moscow, his studying there, the attraction towards Salma, his visits, staying over, suspicions, her going to his office, tidying everything, the kiss before the Supreme Court meeting, his apology? His going to the authorities? His later engagement, the old man and Salma looking at the article in the paper?
13.The minister, coping with the crisis in the lemon groves, his wife leaving him?
14.The visual impact of the war, the completion of the war, cutting the mansion from the grove? The view from both sides? The pruned trees, the possibility of new growth, but continued separation?