VIDEO: The trailer for The Lemon Tree
Message gets entangled with melodrama to the benefit of neither in Eran Riklis's sometimes engaging allegory of the Israeli/Palestinian standoff. Widowed Salma (Hiam Abbass) lives off the old lemon grove on the West Bank left to her by her father.
It's a lovely spot, so the new Israeli defense minister decides to plant his homestead next to it — which means, for reasons of security, that Salma's trees will have to be uprooted. Championed (and wooed, sort of) by Ziad (Ali Suliman), a young Palestinian lawyer, she takes her case to the Supreme Court. In the midst of Riklis's earnest preaching and untidy soap opera, an occasional acute detail shines. But the premise is best critiqued by the soldier who chides Salma when she brings her case to an Israeli military office.
These are people with real problems, he says, pointing to the dozens in line. True, and they're probably still waiting while Salma's bittersweet fable gets made into a movie.
