When Israel erected their Berlin Wall on their border with Palestine, it was obvious that it was going to effect average citizens. Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis doesn’t feel that his films are political, but Lemon Tree gives a human face to the on-going conflict between Israel and Palestine. Riklis maintains that politics gets in the way of ordinary people living their lives, as the Palestinian widow Salma (Hiam Abbass) in his film finds out. For years she has eked out a living from the grove of lemon trees that her family has tended for 50 years, but when Israel’s new Defence Minister and his wife move into the neighbouring house, the trees are declared a security risk and fenced off.
Selma has a quiet dignity as she watches the soldiers tramp through her orchard and erect a watchtower but when she has a rifle pointed at her as she tries to water the dying trees, she stands up for herself and takes the matter to court. With the help of young Palestinian lawyer Ziad Daid (Ali Suliman), she takes the battle for her trees all the way to Israel’s highest court. Meanwhile, the issue of the trees overshadows anything the new Defence Minister wants to bring up at press conferences as well as casting a shadow on his relationship with his wife Mira (Rona Lipaz-Michael).
Director Riklis has actually received death threats for ‘collaborating with the enemy’ because some of his cast and crew are Palestinian, which just goes to show the intensity of animosity between the two nations. Lemon Tree is in English, Arabic and Hebrew (with subtitles) and conveys incredible intensity using the subtlest of means. Part of the Perth International Arts Festival, it screens at Somerville 23 Feb – 1 March and at The Pines 2-8 March.
