This was a real horror story, thankfully with no gore, but more chilling that those that do. Set in the Green Line, a Palestinian widow tends her inherited lemon grove with the help of an old neighbour. Her children have left home, the son working an a restaurant in Washington. The Israeli Defence Minister buys a house the other side of the chainlink fence marking the green line. He has a pleasant view over the lemon grove. However, security regard the grove as a security threat and order it to be cut down. The woman is helpless against the Israeli army, and the Minister defends the decision on grounds of having to follow security advice. The gutless Palestinian community tell the widow not to bother to fight the system, but not to accept compensation either: Palestinians don't. A young lawyer agrees to help, and they become friendly as the case progresses through the system. However, the elders of the community tell the widow that she is dishonouring her late husband's name, as is her son by being in America. A razor wire fence is put up with a goon tower, and then another fence to cut the widow off from the trees, which begin to wither and die. Meanwhile the Minister has an affair with his secretary, while his wife sits imprisoned at home with only the secret service for company. Any attempt she makes to contact the widow is quickly scuppered, and it is made clear that such attempts will damage her husband's career. Finally the Supreme Court decides that only half the trees must be grubbed out, the other half being cut back to their roots. Of course, in the end nobody wins: the Minister and his wife break up, the widow moves out, and the Minister is faced with a huge security wall at the bottom of his garden hiding the view of the devastated grove. It was a film with realism oozing out of it, and one out of which nobody, except the woman, emerged with any credit. A typical example of the situation was when the authorities write to the widow to say she must move: their letter is in Hebrew, and she only speaks Arabic. This was high order film making.The legal position was interesting: at one stage the lawyer cites international conventions (I forget which) which say that occupying forces should not damage private property. The Israeli military counsel counter by saying that there is a get-out for urgent military necessity. It struck me that as the Minister had moved into the house knowing the grove was there, he could hardly claim urgent military necessity to remove it. The lawyer also didn't note that whilst the grove had been there fifty years, there was no guarantee how long the Minister intended to stay in his property.

Hiam Abbass delivers a Stunning, Stirring performance, in this morality tale. Based on a true story, Selma, a lonely Palestinian widow tends the Family Lemon Grove, which she inherited from her late father. She spends her days tending to the grove, managing to earn a living, when, with out notice, a Look out tower is plunked down next to and over looking her beloved grove. She then receives a letter informing her that her new neighbor is the new Israeli Defense Minister and her grove poses a threat to his security, and must be up rooted. Armed with Sheer determination and a lawyer she will take her case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. Along the way Selma finds a most unlikely Ally. Director Eran Riklis, who also co-wrote the script, weaves the lives and images of life in Palestine and Israel and of this three thousand year old problem into an impartial morality tell that will Inspire conversation long after the movie is over. The entire cast delivers solid performances, but Hiam Abbass owns every moment of the film. Abbass will be starring in the New Movie "Miral"

Lemon Tree is set on both lines of the green line border between Israeli and the West Bank.When the newly-appointed defense minister Israel Navon(Doron Tavory)moves in a house which is on the border,the Israeli secret service sees the neighboring lemon grove as a threat to the defense minister and her wife so it is militarily decreed that all the lemon trees be uprooted arguing that the grove could be used as a hiding point to realize a terroristic attack.On the other hand,the owner of the grove,Salma(Hiam Abbass)inherited the grove from his late father and she thinks no money could compensate the loss.So,she sues the minister with the help of the lawyer Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman). When she loses the case in the court she takes it to the Supreme Court and sets a precedent.The movie is based on a real life incident.In 2006 while acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the cutting down of Palestinian olive trees a "criminal act" that needed to be treated with "full force", ironically the security forces began cutting down the olive trees near the house of Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, the depicted minister in the movie. Eran Riklis does not take sides as an Israeli filmmaker. His movie superbly juxtaposes the hypocrisy of Israeli authorities and the corruptness of Palestinian authorities.For instance,when Salma tries to bring her case,which is newly beginning to get media attention, to the presence of the president, her efforts are met by the answer:"But the President is always busy." Along with talebearers who speak ill off her closeness with her lawyer,things get tougher for Salma. Hiam Abbass does a great job in portraying a Palestinian widow who is torn apart between her 10-year loneliness,her helplessness and the temporary affection of somebody she barely knows.I've watched her in Paradise Now (2005)and The Visitor (2008) before and I think she is really doing better. Rona Lipaz-Michael as the wife of the defense minister who forges a sweet humanistic bond with the widow is no slouch at doing the job either. Those two lead the movie but you just find yourself feeling a natural sympathy to almost every character somehow. In a world of too much blood and too much politics movies like ETZ LIMON serves a great purpose!

"The Lemon Tree" is a picture that deals with a "hot" subject in low-key, human terms, but fails to really connect on a human level. The leads all deliver solid performances but they don't have much to work with. Characters are drawn in subtle sketches, but the sketches fail to hint at anything other than sketches and there is less subtext than the dialogue's minimalism would suggest. The film attempts to draw parallels between the alienated Israeli minister's wife and the alienated Palestinian widow, but both characters are too passive to create any real drama and neither of them really change. The film even goes as far as to avoid showing on screen some of the characters' pivotal moments, which suggests that the writer-director didn't know his characters well enough to show us how they would behave. A film which appears to be about women on the sidelines of a conflict proves itself to be more about women who are on the sidelines of life itself, but it seems to believe it is making a statement about the nature of national conflicts. Politics kept this viewer interested during the film's short running time, but, politics aside, the film is a minor exercise in the display of pretty actresses and Judean landscapes. Pretty actresses and Judean landscapes nearly make this film worth the price of admission but in a year when Israel also produced "Waltz With Bashir," this one should barely register.