Tangerines
Georgia on my mind...
It’s probably the smallestscale war film you’ll ever see, yet Georgian director Zaza Urushadze’s lean, moving, old-school chamber piece packs a surprising moral and emotional punch. Tucked in the backwoods of the 1992 Georgian civil war, elderly ethnic Estonian farmer Ivo (Christopher Lee lookalike Lembit Ulfsak) plucks two wounded soldiers from a firefight and houses them while they recover. The only snag is that fiery Chechen mercenary Ahmed (a nimbly tough-and-tender Giorgi Nakashidze) and diehard Georgian separatist Niko (Misha Meskhi) are determined to repay his hospitality by killing one another.
We’re in Enemy Mine and Hell In The Pacific territory, except that it’s the pragmatic Ivo’s compassion battling the deadly macho tribalism of his guests. Big ideas (the insanity of war, the importance of friendship and forgiveness) are played out with dry humour and crackling tension on the tiny canvas of Ivo’s house and garden. A slow starter when revelling in the gorgeous landscapes and rural peace of Ivo and his neighbour Margus’ imperilled tangerine harvest, the film’s pace and story are cunningly trip-wired.
There’s war-war here, as well as jaw-jaw. Snaking unnervingly from death-threat domestic tensions to sudden devastating incursions by the rival armies, Urushadze’s little patch of conflict has the defend-thehomestead feel of a Western. A taciturn script, making every word count as Ivo dryly shoots down the soldiers’ sloganising, reinforces the a-man’s-gotta-do feel that permeates the movie (the only female presence in Tangerines is is just a cherished photograph). If the tone is sometimes melancholy, it’s just as often darkly amused at the absurdity of wounded men lunging at one another with hot tea or hunting knives. Magisterial yet big-hearted, Lembit Ulfsak’s father figure dominates the whole shooting-match with a quietly devastating performance. Refusing to let war destroy his sense of humanity, his Ivo expands and elevates the film’s simple ‘War, what is it good for?’ message by the force of his sheer decency. THE VERDICT A thought-provoking, tinybut-tough Oscar-nominated Georgian anti-war drama. He pulls a knife, you fling the tea – that’s the Caucasus way… › Certificate TBC Director Zaza Urushadze Starring Lembit Ulfsak, Giorgi Nakashidze, Elmo Nugagen, Misha Meskhi Screenplay Zaza Urushadze Distributor Axiom Films Running time TBC