Lemon Tree (2008 Film)

A dispute over a lemon grove brings together the livelihood of a Palestinian widow, the security requirements surrounding an Israeli defense minister, and the involvement of the minister’s lonely wife.[1] The widow’s legal challenge forms the central narrative, alongside her relationship with her lawyer and the connection that develops between the two women.[1]

The film runs for 106 minutes and is in Arabic and Hebrew.[5] Its Hebrew title is Etz Limon; some prints carry English and Hebrew titles, while others carry only Hebrew titles.[5] Riklis co-wrote the screenplay with Suha Arraf.[1] Rainer Klausmann was the film’s cinematographer.[2]

The film opens with a title stating that it is based on a true story.[2] Discussing its origins, Riklis instead called it a film based on “100,000 true stories,” explaining that disputes involving land affect many people.[2] He said that olive trees were more commonly involved in such cases, but the filmmakers chose lemon trees for their symbolism.[2]

Riklis described the story as concerning both Salma’s emotionally important trees and two lonely women, Salma and Mira.[2] He characterized the film as “about going up against the system,” comparing it to Erin Brockovich in a Middle Eastern setting and emphasizing a struggle with which audiences could identify.[2]

The filmmakers limited the direct contact between Salma and Mira: the women briefly connect through glances and a handshake, but a scene in which they spoke together was removed.[2]

Salma, played by Hiam Abbass, is a Palestinian widow who supports herself through her lemon grove.[1] When Israel’s defense minister moves into a house facing the trees across the Green Line, his security team considers the grove a danger and obtains an order requiring its removal.[1] Salma decides to contest the order through the legal system rather than surrender the trees.[1]

Her lawyer, Ziad, is played by Ali Suliman and works in divorce law.[5] He studied law in Moscow and feels guilt over leaving his Russian wife and daughter there; an attraction develops between him and Salma.[5] Salma’s own son is in Washington, D.C., where he works in a restaurant and plans to study.[5]

Rona Lipaz-Michael plays Mira, the defense minister’s lonely wife.[1] Curious about her Palestinian neighbor, Mira becomes involved in Salma’s struggle.[1] She uses the media to help Salma.[5]

Lemon Tree won the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival.[3] It also won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for best screenplay.[6] Recalling a Berlin screening, Riklis quoted cinematographer Rainer Klausmann’s pleased reaction: “Even the stupid jokes are making people laugh.”[2]

The film received seven nominations in the Israeli Academy of Film’s 2008 Ophir Award competition: director for Eran Riklis, lead actress for Hiam Abbass, editing for Tova Asher, art direction for Miguel Markin, costume design for Rona Doron, music for Habib Shehadeh Hanna, and sound for Ashi Milo and Gil Toren.[7] Abbass won Best Actress, surprising observers who had expected one of the leads from Seven Days to receive the award; no representative of Lemon Tree was present to accept it.[4] The film did not compete against Waltz with Bashir for the Ophir Award for Best Film.[3]

At the 2008 European Film Festival in Palić, Serbia, Lemon Tree was among 11 competition films and was also included in a special spotlight on Israeli cinema.[8] By the time of an interview with Riklis and Abbass, it had opened throughout Israel, with screenings expected in France, much of Europe, and eventually America.[2]

Audience responses also figured in the filmmakers’ recollections.[2][6] At a screening in the Arab village of Kafr Kari, the audience fell silent during the scene in which Salma kisses her lawyer; Abbass jokingly mimed covering her face in shame while recounting the response.[2] Riklis later recalled meeting a Pakistani student at the University of Pennsylvania who recognized the film after borrowing it from a DVD library in Lahore, an encounter he said gave him “a real good feeling.”[6]

Riklis said that Lemon Tree was not a political film, emphasizing its broadly relatable struggle against the system.[2] A Jerusalem Post review interpreted it as both a human drama and a political allegory.[5] A sharply critical Ynet review argued that its Israeli characters were uniformly villainous and its Palestinian characters virtuous, and criticized the relationship between Salma and Mira as schematic; these were that reviewer’s judgments rather than an established critical consensus.[1]

The filmmakers linked the story’s inspiration to a case involving an orchard near former defense minister Shaul Mofaz’s home in Kochav Yair, where the trees were considered a possible hiding place for attackers.[1] In that account, the Palestinian owner and her workers were barred from entering the orchard while legal proceedings continued.[1] This account of the inspiration rests on statements attributed to the filmmakers, rather than independent verification of the underlying case in the cited material.[1]