Plunging itself amid the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia, TANGERINES, from Georgian moviemaker Zaza Urushadze (who sadly passed away in 2019 at the age of 54), is a poignant shorthand of pacifism and the futility of war.

Set in a rural village caught in the rampant warfare between Russian-backed Abkhaz separatists and Georgians, Estonian carpenter Ivo (Ulfsak) and his friend Margus (Nüganen) are among the very few remaining, whereas most of their compatriots have fled back to Estonia. Margus has a large crop of tangerine to harvest and Ivo helps him by making as many crates as possible, but what is the true reason of his staying?

When Ivo saves two soldiers from the rival parties, one Chechen mercenary Ahmed (Nakashidze) and one Georgian soldier Nika (Meskhi), the story segues into a foe-to-friend fable swimmingly. As a neutral arbitrator, Ivo the savior simply lets the two men stay under the same roof. After declaiming their different ideologies, naturally Ahmed and Nika find more commonalities than dissimilarities, bound by their word of honor, humanity and brotherhood prevails until the fragile accord must be shattered again by the wantonness of war.

For all its pithy yet cogent point-making, TANGERINES eschews from being preachy, since what the story illumines us with is such a tired axiom, “war is atrocious, we are all brothers”, which is corroborated by two confrontational episodes that the identities and personhood of Ahmed and Nika are fungible. But that doesn’t prevent warmongering still being rampant in the region or elsewhere (the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan War, for instance). Although no one should expect a movie to right the mighty wrong, yet the world at large’s indifference has a disheartening effect on TANGERINES’ good intention, it is not the escapism for the world-weary, but a painful reminder of the downside of humanity.

That said, it is not the film per se who should be answer for a viewer’s Weltschmerz, Urushadze and company’s lucid script and tactical craft are beyond reproach, and the performances are excellent across the board, Ulfsak is exceptionally compassionate but also profoundly sage. One could only quibble it is still an old-fashioned apologue consists of solely sausage party, the only female figure is idealized as an obvious cue of the halcyon days, insinuating that the petticoat folks are not of major concern among men’s bloody enormity, in the end of the day, TANGERINES is a rare case of a film that earns its Teflon repute, for the most part, on account of its humane message and overt sagacity.

referential entries: Levan Akin’s AND THEN WE DANCED (2019, 7.6/10); Elem Klimov’s COME AND SEE (1985, 8.8/10).

English Title: Tangerines

Original Title: Mandariinid

Year: 2013

Country: Estonia, Georgia

Language: Estonian, Russian, Georgian

Genre: Drama, War

Director/Screenwriter: Zaza Urushadze

Music: Niaz Diasamidze

Cinematography: Rein Kotov

Editing: Alexander Kuranov

Cast:

Lembit Ulfsak

Giorgi Nakashidze

Misha Meskhi

Elmo Nüganen

Raivo Trass

Zura Begalishvili

Giorgi Tsaava

Rating: 7.9/10