A Comprehensive Movie Analysis of Eran Riklis' Lemon Tree

Movie Review: Lemon Tree (2008)

The film is about, Salma, a Palestinian widow - living there for decades - has to stand up against her new neighbour, the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli security forces declare that Salma's garden poses a threat to the Minister’s safety and issues orders to cut them. Together with Ziad Daud- a young Palestinian lawyer- Salma goes to the Israeli Supreme Court to and save her trees. Her struggle raises the interest of Mira Navon, the Defense minister’s wife, trapped in walls in her new home and in an unhappy life. Despite their differences and the borders between them the two women develop an invisible bond, also Salma grows romantic ties to Ziad -her lawyer-. Salma’s legal and personal journey covered with Israeli-Palestinian issues in the film.

To begin with, the relationship between Salma and Mira is the one of the most important themes of this film. The two don’t exactly meet, but they see each other and have created eye contact more than once. Salma never says anything to Mira and Mira just about makes a one general, a sort of statement when she apologizes from Salma for taking lemons from her grove without permission. But the relationship, as it develops, becomes mystical. Mira can’t stop thinking about Salma because, to Navon, Salma stands for the unjust domination that Mira begins to realize haunts her life as well. Salma’s decision to go to court almost impresses Mira and she can’t keep herself from attending the final hearing despite warning from friends and family. The director creates glamour by not letting them meet and talk. While Salma’s grove becomes a public issue, the politics behind it shows Mira’s personal life; and when the decision comes, Mira decides to leave Israel. The connection between the two women becomes clearer with this move at the end of the film. In the end there comes a kind of “defeat”, but not just for Salma, for Israel too, because his wife leaves him and also he is trapped in the walled area. The director, shows his bias to the Palestinian woman, even though it is an Israeli film, but the characters in the film are not the villains. Salma’s tragedy is triggered because of a particular person, but that the person is not Israel the man but rather the history between Israel and Palestine.

Secondly, to analyze the relationship between Salma and the lawyer, Ziad, who is a young and enthusiastic and eager to win the case for Salma. They develop a bond that becomes romantic. One of the lightest moments of the film is when she reaches his office while he is out and she decides to clean up. When he comes back, he looks around suspiciously but soon realizes that it is Salma’s handiwork. She looks up at him and smiles, proud yet expectant. He sits down, and says, “…and how am I supposed to find anything now” The most interesting thing about the relationship is how it ends. She loses the case, more or less, and goes back to her house and her grove, while he moves from his office to a fancy one and has become the legal advisor on Palestine’s national affairs, and gets engaged to a minister’s daughter. It would be instinctive to judge the man for using Salma. But the film doesn’t really give that opportunity. He may be sitting in a big government office, but he still searches for Salma Zedane on his computer. He finds her picture and draws an outline of her face with his finger almost as if he was still holding on to the past whereas she had finally come to terms with her present in which would never allow a relationship with a man young enough to be her son. Since she has lost the most important part of her past – her garden – she decides to let go of everything else as well (not unlike Mira who leaves her husband and moves away). Salma burns the clothes in her house and also Ziad’s picture that has come in the newspaper.

Lastly, as a Turkish citizen, Turkey had serious border intrusions recently. The insecurity of southeastern borderline had serious outcomes, both insecurities in homeland and in international affairs. For example, Paris terror suspect Hayat Boumeddiene's recent escape from France to Syria has renewed concern about Turkey’s ability to prevent terrorists from transiting through its territory. Also, in last year Turkey's foreign minister has blamed Syria for a double car bombing that killed 46 people in a border town -Reyhanli-.The attack was one of the deadliest attacks on Turkish soil in at least a decade. To express self-opinion, rather than feeling frightened from a foreign attack, I feel more insecure about current government’s oppressive laws that constantly put into effect. Middle east region is not a suitable playground for Turkey, I think our country should make an effort to secure its borders rather than interfering in domestic affairs of the neighboring countries.