Lemon Tree

Excellent film. Its irrelevant that it depicts the challenges existing between the peopes of Palestine and Israel - it really speaks to any political boundary - and shows that respect, warmth and good neighbour relations between ordinary folks might flourish if we weren't dominated by a few wielding their extraordinary power.

A Palestinian widow's only source of income is the Lemon Grove she inherited from her father. When the newly appointed Israeli Defence Minister moves in next door, his security insist the trees are cut down. This is a very clever film, managing as it does to accommodate so many of the issues that have a stranglehold over the region and yet remain at heart a tale of a lonely, beautiful woman fighting for both her livelihood and heritage against a hostile state machine and the rigid traditions of her own kind. And yet, there are frustrations. We spend a lot of time with the sympathetic minister's wife, waiting for her to take action which never comes and the lawyers' final betrayal is sudden and unexplained. Still illuminating and intelligent for all that.

Like many Jewish people (my mother is Jewish and father Protestant), I don't live in Israel...most Jews don't...but we take a particular interest in what is going on politically in Palestine/Israel. Contrary to popular belief, many Jewish people have Palestinian friends (as I do) so I think this story is very sympathetically told. Nobody in Israel likes the construction of the concrete separation wall or the fact certain homes are torn down...the attempt to destroy this woman's lemon grove is also senseless but all too often in Israel this happens as the military point to the 'security' of Israeli's. Hiam Abbass and Ali Suliman (both last seen on UK screens in 'The Promise') are especially good in this. What I found particularly fascinating is the dim view the script has of the Palestinian authority in helping this woman- her plight is ignored by them and she is left to find her own lawyer. Most films criticise the Israeli's but it's refreshing to see the Palestinian's are criticised for not helping their own...Well worth a watch but it might leave a sour taste in your mouth regarding the futility of sectarian divides.

A hidden gem : go and rent it now ! Don't be put off by the subtitles.......like Denmark's 'The Killing', some of the best things aren't always english (!)

Visually stunning and with an undercurrent of repressed sexual tension throughout this is a film more about human emotions than it is about the Middle Eastern conflict between Israel and Palestine. Hiam Abbass gives a flawless performance as the widowed lemon tree grove owner forced to give up her livelehood due to security concerns for the Israeli defence ministers family who live on the ajoining side of the border.

Faced with being unable to accept compensation for the grove, as this money would be considered haram (forbidden) the widow decides to fight the case all the way to the Supreme Court in Jerusalam.

An unlikely friendship develops between her and her much younger lawyer, who has recently abandoned a young family in Russia to return home to Palestine. It is at this point that the real story starts.