New in the cinema: Lemon Tree
Lemon Tree: The movie
Scenery from "Lemon Tree": Salma and Abu Hussam in their lemon grove.
© ArsenalA small lemon grove in the West Bank - that's all the Palestinian widow Salma still has. She inherited it from her father, who planted his lemon trees here fifty years ago. Every day Salma takes care of the plantation together with the faithful, old gardener Abu Hussam. Her children rarely come to visit - she is lonely, but not unhappy.
New in the cinema: Lemon Tree
Scenery from "Lemon Tree": Salma and the lawyer Ziad on the way to the court
© ArsenalEverything changes as Israeli Defense Minister Israel moves Navon and his wife Mira to their new home next to Salma's Lemon Grove. Navon transforms his property into a high-security wing guarded by soldiers and intelligence around the clock - and it does not take long for Salma's plantation to be targeted by Navon's bodyguards. Reason: The lemon trees could provide terrorists with an ideal hiding place. It quickly becomes clear: The lemon grove must be cut down. Without further ado, it is fenced. But Navon has made the bill without Salma. Determined to save her trees, she pulls up to the Supreme Israeli Court - along with the young Palestinian lawyer Ziad, for whom she soon feels more. In her fight for justice, the on David against Goliath Remember, Salma awakens above all the sympathy of a woman who could not be more different: Mira Navon, the wife of the Minister of Defense himself.
Lemon Tree: The lemon as a symbol
Scenery from "Lemon Tree": Mira, the wife of the Israeli Defense Minister, suffers from loneliness.
© ArsenalWith "Lemon Tree" Israeli director Eran Riklis ("The Syrian Bride") has succeeded in creating a beautiful film that breaks down the absurdity of the Middle East conflict to a simple symbol: the lemon, which stands for the defense against all evil. The movie viewer suffers with Salma, who threatens to lose everything in her plantation that makes up her life. And yet, the film looks like simple finger-pointing and black-painting in this infinite conflict. There is, for example, the Israeli Mira, the wife of the Minister of Defense, who seems to have everything and yet - or for that very reason - feels infinitely lonely and thus is not much different from the Palestinian Salma. Despite all the drama, "Lemon Tree" never slides into the pathetic, but tells the story of the people in this region with much love and humor. Or as director Eran Riklis puts it: "of people who are struggling with problems that could actually be solved quickly if people were listening to each other".
