Lemon Tree

Salma Zidane leads a simple albeit poor existence tending a lemon grove on the Israeli-Palestine border.  When the Israeli defense minister moves in as her neighbor, she receives an Israeli government order stating that the lemon grove has to be wiped out due to security concerns. Most Palestinians would say this is par for the course when living on the border. But for Salma the grove is much more than just her livelihood. The memory of her father and husband are buried in the soil. So she decides to take the might of Israel to court. 

The decision opens up the film to many dimensions. The juxtaposition of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. The bullying nature of Israel. The treatment of women in Palestine. The rocky marriage of the minister aptly named, Israel Navon and Mira, his wife. The silent relationship between Salma and Mira (Rona Lipaz-Michael). But the most interesting dimension is the quiet romance between Salma and her young lawyer, Said (Ali Suliman). And through all this Salma, played beautifully by Hiam Abbass, carriers herself with quiet dignity. All in all, director Eran Riklis has crafted a masterpiece.

Rating: * * * *

Waltz with Bashir

A pack of feral dogs tear across an anonymous street striking terror in the hearts of the pedestrians. If at all your mind was wandering this scene will snap it  back in place. From there on you venture in to the mind of Ari Folman in his quest to bring back his buried memories of the Lebanon War. A unique use of animation in an almost documentary like fashion to portray the scars a war leaves behind on the human psyche.

Rating: * * +

Yellow Asphalt

A child is run over by a truck on a deserted highway. A German woman desperately tries to flee her husband and tribe. These are two of the short stories that venture amongst the Bedouin tribe of the Judeab desert. The third is what the film Before the Rains is based on and the main reason for me to pick this film. The stories are almost identical. All you need to do is replace the Kerala tribals with the Bedouin and the Brits with the Jews. But the difference is night and day.

Rating: * * +

Live and Become

The Ethiopian Falashas were recognized as Jews by Israel in the early 80s. The Mossad comes with a plan of subversively getting them to Israel through Sudan. The trek from Ethiopia to Sudan and the life in the refugee camps kills thousands. Soon the camp welcomes not just Jews but the thousands trying to escape Ethiopia. But it is only the Falashas that can proceed to Israel under the Law of Return.

As a Christian mother watches dying children around her, she pushes her son into the arms of a Falasha women who has just lost her boy. Soon he becomes Schlomo and finds himself in a bewildering world whose customs are alien to him. The film tries compress the next couple of decades in the boys life as he tries live a lie with his adopted Jewish family. A movie that should have ended five minutes sooner or even better, made into a slower and evenly paced mini-series.

Rating: * * +

Jellyfish

Snippets from the lives of three women float by and everything else stood still. sometimes when you watch a film everything is in sync. The movie absorbs you and its inner wavelength is in sync with yours. This was one of those films for me.

Rating: * * * *

The Band's Visit

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra from Egypt arrive in Israel to play at the opening of a Arab cultural center in an obscure town called Petah Tiqva. But instead they land up in Beit Hatikva and are stranded overnight. The local restaurant owner takes pity on them and takes them in for the night in an unwarranted show of hospitality. The film is a tad saccahrine but the streak of melancholy running throught it balances things out.

Rating: * * *

The Bubble

A chance meeting between Ashraf (Yousef 'Joe' Sweid), a Palestinian and Noam (Ohad Knoller), an Israeli reserve soldier, at a checkpoint leads to love. Ashraf clandestinely enters Noam's world shared predominately between his roommates, the gay Yelli (Alon Friedman) and the lovely Lulu (Daniela Virtzer). Director Eytan Fox exploits this relationship to show you the world of Tel Aviv through the eyes of leftist Isreali youth. Conflict fills this movie at a personal, sexual and political level all of which will leave you a little dazed.

Rating: * * +

Free Zone

The first seven minutes of the movie shows a close up of Rebecca (Natalie Portman) crying in a taxi on the streets of Jaffa. The weight of her sadness roots her to the cab. The driver Hanna (Hana Laszlo) is forced to take her into Jordan's Free Zone. Hanna hopes to collect some money for her husband's business. But we all know how hope treats the hopeful...

Rating: * *

Nina's Tragedies

Nadav is obsessively in love with Nina. Nina is his mother's sister. Nadav is 12 years old. Do I need to say more? A touching film with many moments of cunning humor as can be seen from the poem below.

This reminds me of a beautiful poem by Yuri Bukovsky.
It goes like this.
"When I take off my clothes
My personality falls to the floor with them
And I remain a tiny little dot
Between the closet and the bed
And a little bird sings and laughs in your heart
Because my dick makes you feel good."
He's a great poet. - It's a nice poem.
So should I take off my clothes?

Rating: * * +