Director Eran Riklis, 45, works with the political microcosm.  The latest in an extensive body of work, Lemon Tree brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its very smallest and most accessible form.  Salma Zidane, a middle-aged Palestinian widow, lives alone on the West Bank, as an occasional Hezbollah rocket resounds overhead.  She tends a grove of lemon trees on the Green Line inherited from her father, and her life is small.  When the Israeli Defense Minister builds a house on the other side of the line, the trees (as a cover for terrorists) are seen as a threat to his security and must be disposed of.  Salma and her lawyer enter a losing battle over the grove, complicated by her growing feelings for him.  The Defense Minister's wife, lonely and forgotten, identifies with the citrus-bound widow, despite their obvious differences.  Riklis delicately avoids generalizing the political conflict, directing with a simple eloquence, instead, addressing the fears of security and displacement that seem to be on all sides.  He seeks to unify, not accuse, as the two women reach out to each other for reasons greater than politics.  "It's a film about people who are trapped in a political situation," says the director;  "it is based loosely on true stories, with a cast of Israelis and Palestinians."  Best Film, Berlin Film Festival, 2008).  Features powerful performance by Hiam Abass as the widow (seen in The Visitor).

(In Hebrew and Arabic;  English subtitles)