Review by Michael Fox, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

Hiam Abbass in Lemon Tree

Israeli director Eran Riklis’ complex, compassionate and deeply sobering Lemon Tree leaves moviegoers with a plethora of themes to talk and think about, but let’s single one out in particular: We should be devoting less attention to the Arab street, and more to the Arab ground.

The ground in this first-rate film is a decades-old lemon grove on the border between Israel and the West Bank, owned by a middle-aged Palestinian widow.

Her children grown and gone, Salma (Hiam Abbas) adheres to a marginally fulfilling routine, tending the trees and quietly minding her own business.

Salma’s low-key existence is derailed when the confident new Israeli Defense Minister and his stylish wife, accompanied by a Mossad detail, move into the modern house looking down (in both senses) on her venerable property. The agent in charge decrees the grove a security hazard that must be removed, setting in motion a chain of events with quietly devastating consequences for those on both sides of the fence.

Political without being polemical, Lemon Tree is the strongest and most insightful drama about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years.

It is especially relevant — painfully so, in fact — at the present moment, with no visible steps toward peace on the horizon.

The disparity between Israeli officials and Palestinian growers is just one of the power relationships that Lemon Tree critiques with deft strokes.

Also coming in for a pointed swipe is the male hierarchy that defines Palestinian society and, to a slightly lesser degree, Israeli life.

The heart of the film lies in its precise delineation of Salma’s lack of status and standing not only with the government she chooses to challenge but in her own community.

As the story unfolds, though, we come to see that the Defense Minister’s cosmopolitan wife Mira (Rona Lipaz-Michael) has a lot more in common with Salma than we could have guessed.

It still takes a while for Mira to recognize that the ridiculous and cruel business with the lemon grove is having repercussions in her own home and marriage.

Nonetheless, that puts her miles ahead of her charming, blustering husband, Israel (Doron Tavory), who considers the matter a tiny pebble on the road of his ambitious career.

Indeed, practically every Israeli word or act in Lemon Tree is clueless, heartless or some unholy combination of the two.

For example, Mira and Israel proffer Arab food and music at their gala housewarming party, reflecting not only tone deafness to the political climate but their surface embrace of a culture they do not understand.

Israel and Mira’s co-opting also applies, most profoundly, to the land. The day of the party, the caterer forgets to bring lemons. The minister’s solution? Send a few men into the grove.

Salma’s parcel stands in for the ubiquitous land — or homeland — referenced in every argument on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The film is so effective at suggesting the arbitrary application of Israel’s authority over the Palestinians that Riklis’s recurring (and disturbing) insertion of shots of the separation barrier carries no association with security or defense, evoking only domination and land seizure.

Lemon Tree stands as an artful exposé of the official lies served up over the years, and the posing and rhetoric on both sides.

For most of the parties involved, the lemon grove is a symbol, a threat, the subject of a legal tug of war or a vehicle for career advancement.

Only the dignified, uncompromising Salma sees the land as home, livelihood and identity.
As engrossing as it is timely, Lemon Tree is essential viewing for anyone with either an abiding interest in the Middle East or an appreciation for thoughtful, grown-up movies.

Lemon Tree will be shown on Wednesday, April 21 at 10 a.m. at the Neon Movies, in partnership with Hadassah, followed by a discussion led by Rabbi Bernard Barsky; and on Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs, followed by a discussion led by Rabbi Janice Garfunkel. Tickets are $8.50 adults, $7.50 students and are available by calling Karen Steiger at 853-0372, at jewishdayton.org, or at the door.