Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) (2009) (NR)

synopsis

Salma Zidane is a 45-year-old widow who lives alone in a tiny Palestinian village on the West Bank. When the Israeli minister of defense builds a house on the other side of the green line, his bodyguards consider Selma's lemon trees to be a security risk. They can hide terrorists and impede the bodyguards in their work. The lemon trees were planted by Salma's family many generations ago; they are synonymous with Salma's family history. Salma gets herself a lawyer. But, Ziad Daud is up against a battery of clever military lawyers, all of whom are covered by the top brass. It's an unfair battle, that isn't made any easier when the 45-year-old widow falls in love with her lawyer, a divorcee 10 years her junior--a scandal as far as her Palestinian neighbors are concerned. On the other side of the grove, Salma's struggle to keep her trees has not gone unnoticed. The defence minister's wife, who has become more and more lonely and unhappy as her husband's political career has blossomed, feels increasingly drawn to Salma as the unfair battle between her husband and their Palestinian neighbors drags on. An invisible bond connects these two very different women who find themselves on the brink of a new phase in their lives.