Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) is about a Palestinian widow whose property has hundreds of lemon trees, planted by her father and thriving for over 50 years. The Israeli Prime Minister and his wife move in to the house adjacent her property. Their Secret Service deem the lemon trees a threat to their security, and order the grove to be removed. The Palestinian woman, Salma Zidane, elects to fight this edict through the legal system, and thus we get the skeleton of the movie’s plot.
Its artistic merits include the moving performance of Hiam Abbass, who plays Salma, and the not exactly moving, but nuanced performance of Rona Lipaz-Michael, who plays Mira Navon, the Prime Minister’s wife. All of the supporting actors, without exception, do a fine job as well.
The story was very interesting to me and I forgave its imperfections as I watched this drama unfold and waited to see how it would end. One of these imperfections for me was the inclusion of improbable circumstances to move the plot along. An example of this was the Prime Minister selecting for their home a potentially dangerous location that was right on the border of Palestinian West Bank. Another was the Prime Minister’s caterer “forgetting” the lemons for a party, and needing to go and take some from Salma’s grove. But my biggest complaint with the film was the lack of development of the relationships between the characters. Salma and Mira have moments of seeming connection, but the potential for this story element was never fully realized. Nor was the relationship between Mira and her husband, or Salma and her lawyer. Another interesting facet of the film that might have benefited from more attention was the children in each family–how they were different or alike their parents in how they viewed the conflict.
Despite these disappointments, I was very pleased overall by the viewing experience of Lemon Tree and recommend it to those who enjoy foreign dramas, and especially those who have an interest in the long-standing conflict between these peoples. – [DVD]
Drama
Not Rated
DVD Release Date: 11/3/09
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