The Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) attempts to reduce the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a simplistic tale of David vs. Goliath (in this case, David being a disenfranchised Palestinian widow to the Goliath of a newly installed Israeli defense minister). The plot is fairly simple: Defense Minister Israel Navone has just moved in next door to Salma Zidane's lemon grove, which has been in her family for years; Navone's secret service detail deems the grove to be a security threat and so it must be cut down. Zidane objects, hires a Palestinian lawyer, who manages to get the case heard in the Israeli Supreme Court.
It's hard to believe that an Israeli Defense Minister would move into a home on the border of the West Bank and right next to a home owned by a Palestinian. And wouldn't his security detail have initially nixed the entire idea of moving into a home which was right next to a lemon grove where terrorists could easily hide and launch an attack? Unfortunately, logic is dispensed with here in the service of making political points.
Once again, as she did in indie film 'The Visitor', Hiam Abbass plays a Muslim widow of quiet dignity who also happens to be a saint. Along with a kindly housekeeper who has been working in the family lemon grove for years, the two characters bear the mantle of victimhood throughout the film. There is a slight attempt to humanize Abbass's character by showing her disappointment at a failed romance with her attorney, Ziad Daud. The source of her disappointment is an affair that Daud has been having with the daughter of a well-placed Palestinian official in Ramallah (not seen on-screen). While the affair should disqualify Daud for sainthood, in reality it doesn't!—since he agrees to forgo all fees for representing Zidane and is quite articulate in arguing her case in front of the Israeli Supreme Court, he is also promoted to the pantheon of Palestinian sainthood.
'The Lemon Tree' makes a very good case for Palestinian oppression at the hands of the Israelis. In addition to the confiscation and ordered destruction of the lemon grove, the Palestinians are seen undergoing a slew of other indignities including disrupting curfews, warrant-less searches and downright theft (the defense minister's wife allows a local Palestinian caterer to take lemons from the now fenced-off lemon grove without paying the widow). The deck is completely stacked against the Israelis as their justifications in the name of state security are depicted as being an exaggeration and practically baseless (while gunfire is heard outside the Defense Minister's home, heaven forbid that there should be an actual Palestinian terrorist shown sneaking through the lemon grove or anywhere else for that matter in this film).
The film is much more successful in depicting the upwardly mobile defense minister Navone convincingly played by Doron Tavory. Not only does he have to deal with his liberal wife who is appalled at the thought that the lemon grove has been confiscated and ordered destroyed but also must parry the blows from the liberal press who have made the fight over the lemon grove a national political issue. As the media vise tightens, Navone ratchets the double-talk up to the point where it appears he has deftly handled his opponents. But he wins no victories at the hands of the film's scenarists: at the end, he's a lonely and bitter man after his attractive wife leaves him not only due to his stance against the Palestinians but for conducting an affair with a pretty Israeli Army soldier.
Not only are there really no 'bad' Palestinians shown in this film, none of their intractable political positions are explored including their demand for the right of return of the descendants of those Palestinians who left Israel in 1948 along with the refusal to acknowledge the existence of the Jewish State itself. Had some of these positions been made explicit in this political allegory of a movie, the message of the movie would not have appeared so one-sided.
Had this been an American film, the Israeli Supreme Court would have sided with the Palestinians completely and ordered that the lemon grove be returned to Zidane. But this is no American feel-good film. Even the highly respected Israeli Supreme Court can't catch a break—their 'compromise' decision to prune the lemon grove only leads to its destruction. The widow Zidane forlornly walks through the decimated lemon grove as Israel must deal with its 'guilt'.
In some respects, 'The Lemon Grove' ably makes its case for the source of Palestinian bitterness. In their zeal to maintain security, heavy-handed actions by Israeli security forces have led to a feeling of humiliation on the part of Palestinians. But on other occasions it's the Palestinians who have provoked a harsh Israeli response and the Palestinians are the ones who are loathe to take any responsibility for such provocative acts.
When the deck is stacked so much to one side, the case for Palestianian rights loses credibility. The moral of this film should have been 'there are always two sides to a story'—but in this case, THE WAY IT IS EXPLORED HERE, the picture is skewed toward one side without proper balance. The result is a superficial examination and rendering of a complex political-historical conflict.
It's hard to believe that an Israeli Defense Minister would move into a home on the border of the West Bank and right next to a home owned by a Palestinian. And wouldn't his security detail have initially nixed the entire idea of moving into a home which was right next to a lemon grove where terrorists could easily hide and launch an attack? Unfortunately, logic is dispensed with here in the service of making political points.
Once again, as she did in indie film 'The Visitor', Hiam Abbass plays a Muslim widow of quiet dignity who also happens to be a saint. Along with a kindly housekeeper who has been working in the family lemon grove for years, the two characters bear the mantle of victimhood throughout the film. There is a slight attempt to humanize Abbass's character by showing her disappointment at a failed romance with her attorney, Ziad Daud. The source of her disappointment is an affair that Daud has been having with the daughter of a well-placed Palestinian official in Ramallah (not seen on-screen). While the affair should disqualify Daud for sainthood, in reality it doesn't!—since he agrees to forgo all fees for representing Zidane and is quite articulate in arguing her case in front of the Israeli Supreme Court, he is also promoted to the pantheon of Palestinian sainthood.
'The Lemon Tree' makes a very good case for Palestinian oppression at the hands of the Israelis. In addition to the confiscation and ordered destruction of the lemon grove, the Palestinians are seen undergoing a slew of other indignities including disrupting curfews, warrant-less searches and downright theft (the defense minister's wife allows a local Palestinian caterer to take lemons from the now fenced-off lemon grove without paying the widow). The deck is completely stacked against the Israelis as their justifications in the name of state security are depicted as being an exaggeration and practically baseless (while gunfire is heard outside the Defense Minister's home, heaven forbid that there should be an actual Palestinian terrorist shown sneaking through the lemon grove or anywhere else for that matter in this film).
The film is much more successful in depicting the upwardly mobile defense minister Navone convincingly played by Doron Tavory. Not only does he have to deal with his liberal wife who is appalled at the thought that the lemon grove has been confiscated and ordered destroyed but also must parry the blows from the liberal press who have made the fight over the lemon grove a national political issue. As the media vise tightens, Navone ratchets the double-talk up to the point where it appears he has deftly handled his opponents. But he wins no victories at the hands of the film's scenarists: at the end, he's a lonely and bitter man after his attractive wife leaves him not only due to his stance against the Palestinians but for conducting an affair with a pretty Israeli Army soldier.
Not only are there really no 'bad' Palestinians shown in this film, none of their intractable political positions are explored including their demand for the right of return of the descendants of those Palestinians who left Israel in 1948 along with the refusal to acknowledge the existence of the Jewish State itself. Had some of these positions been made explicit in this political allegory of a movie, the message of the movie would not have appeared so one-sided.
Had this been an American film, the Israeli Supreme Court would have sided with the Palestinians completely and ordered that the lemon grove be returned to Zidane. But this is no American feel-good film. Even the highly respected Israeli Supreme Court can't catch a break—their 'compromise' decision to prune the lemon grove only leads to its destruction. The widow Zidane forlornly walks through the decimated lemon grove as Israel must deal with its 'guilt'.
In some respects, 'The Lemon Grove' ably makes its case for the source of Palestinian bitterness. In their zeal to maintain security, heavy-handed actions by Israeli security forces have led to a feeling of humiliation on the part of Palestinians. But on other occasions it's the Palestinians who have provoked a harsh Israeli response and the Palestinians are the ones who are loathe to take any responsibility for such provocative acts.
When the deck is stacked so much to one side, the case for Palestianian rights loses credibility. The moral of this film should have been 'there are always two sides to a story'—but in this case, THE WAY IT IS EXPLORED HERE, the picture is skewed toward one side without proper balance. The result is a superficial examination and rendering of a complex political-historical conflict.