Wednesday 2 February 2011

മതിലുകള്‍ = ശത്രുക്കള്‍ (THE LEMON TREE -Israeli film: 2008)

ഒരു രാഷ്ട്രീയക്കാരന്‍ ലോകത്തെ രണ്ടായി തിരിക്കുന്നു: ഉപകരണങ്ങ ളും ശത്രുക്കളും. ‍ (ഫ്രെട്രിച് നീഷ്ചെ)





Israeli director Eran Riklis's 2008 film “Lemon Tree” is based on a real life incident. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz moved to the border within Israel and the occupied territories and security forces began cutting down the olive trees beside his house, arguing that it could be used by terrorists as a hiding place. The Palestinian family who owned the trees sued the minister and took the case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. They lost, and their trees had to be cut down. Riklis watched a news blurb about the case online. He then developed the story further in a fictional setting.

“Lemon Tree” opens with the Israeli Defense Minister moving into a new house right next to the Green Line dividing Israel from the West Bank. The Secret Service forces him to cut down the lemon grove of his widowed Palestinian neighbor, for his family’s safety and "because a terrorist might cross into Israel through the grove." The protagonist, 45-year old Salma, has grown up with the lemon grove that her father planted 50 years earlier. Besides remittances from her son in the US, it is her only source of income. When it is decided that it must be destroyed Salma fights it all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Salma feels isolated given that her son has moved to Washington, D.C. and her daughters are now married. The local village elder Abu Kamal advises her to give in, but Salma decides to work with the young lawyer Ziad Daud. They take their case all the way to the Supreme Court. Mira Navon, the minister's wife, sympathizes with Salma. The court case receives notable media attention, and Mira gives a news interview that her husband regrets. Mira believes that the Israeli military overreacted, and she also shares Salma's sense of personal loneliness. A complex, though not always evident, human bond develops between the two women. As the Palestinian cause is dismissed, Mira moves out, and a concrete wall is built between Salma's land and the Defense Minister's house. A final camera shot reveals the lemon trees to have been cut down.



(Edited from Wikipedia and Jane Rubio’s blog “From Beirut to New York”)



കാണാത്തവര്‍ സമയം കിട്ടിയാല്‍ കാണുമല്ലോ. youtube -ല്‍ ഉണ്ട്. സമയം നഷ്ടമാവില്ല; ഉറപ്പ്!







മതിലുകള്‍ = ശത്രുക്കള്‍ (THE LEMON TREE -Israeli film: 2008)

ഒരു രാഷ്ട്രീയക്കാരന്‍ ലോകത്തെ രണ്ടായി തിരിക്കുന്നു: ഉപകരണങ്ങ ളും ശത്രുക്കളും. ‍ (ഫ്രെട്രിച് നീഷ്ചെ)





Israeli director Eran Riklis's 2008 film “Lemon Tree” is based on a real life incident. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz moved to the border within Israel and the occupied territories and security forces began cutting down the olive trees beside his house, arguing that it could be used by terrorists as a hiding place. The Palestinian family who owned the trees sued the minister and took the case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. They lost, and their trees had to be cut down. Riklis watched a news blurb about the case online. He then developed the story further in a fictional setting.

“Lemon Tree” opens with the Israeli Defense Minister moving into a new house right next to the Green Line dividing Israel from the West Bank. The Secret Service forces him to cut down the lemon grove of his widowed Palestinian neighbor, for his family’s safety and "because a terrorist might cross into Israel through the grove." The protagonist, 45-year old Salma, has grown up with the lemon grove that her father planted 50 years earlier. Besides remittances from her son in the US, it is her only source of income. When it is decided that it must be destroyed Salma fights it all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Salma feels isolated given that her son has moved to Washington, D.C. and her daughters are now married. The local village elder Abu Kamal advises her to give in, but Salma decides to work with the young lawyer Ziad Daud. They take their case all the way to the Supreme Court. Mira Navon, the minister's wife, sympathizes with Salma. The court case receives notable media attention, and Mira gives a news interview that her husband regrets. Mira believes that the Israeli military overreacted, and she also shares Salma's sense of personal loneliness. A complex, though not always evident, human bond develops between the two women. As the Palestinian cause is dismissed, Mira moves out, and a concrete wall is built between Salma's land and the Defense Minister's house. A final camera shot reveals the lemon trees to have been cut down.



(Edited from Wikipedia and Jane Rubio’s blog “From Beirut to New York”)



കാണാത്തവര്‍ സമയം കിട്ടിയാല്‍ കാണുമല്ലോ. youtube -ല്‍ ഉണ്ട്. സമയം നഷ്ടമാവില്ല; ഉറപ്പ്!