The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is refracted through a condensing narrative prism in director Eran Riklis (“The Syrian Bride”) restrained multinational drama set on the Israeli-West Bank border of Zur HaSharon.
Salma (well played by Hiam Abbass) is a 45-year-old Palestinian widow who finds her home’s lemon grove, that her father planted 50 years earlier, threatened with being uprooted when the new Israeli Defense Minister Istael Navon (Doron Tavory) builds his heavily-guarded home compound against her Palestinian property line.
Salma secures the assistance of young attorney Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman) to take her case to an Israeli court where she is ruled against. On the spot, Sulma announces she will take the case to the Israeli supreme court, and soon falls into a romantic relationship with her attorney.
Divergent elements of traditional values, military obsession, and differences between the way opposite sexes handle personal and political conflict are expressed in shades of gray as the case garners significant media attention.
The story’s theme of deeply-rooted conflict tips a unity-of-opposite balance between Salma and the Defense Minister’s wife Mira (Rona Lipaz-Michael) who empathizes with Salma’s sad plight.
Nothing is sugar-coated in this bittersweet film.
Not Rated. 106 mins.
