Zaza Urushadze (2013)
There are two kinds of war movies. There are war movies that show you the actual war ; that have you follow the lives and adventures of soldiers ; that make you witness combat, death and conquest. Then there are war movie about everything going on around the combat ; about the lives of the civilians and what they must endure ; about life for soldiers outside the warzone after, and even during, the war. Tangerines is the latter.
The point of the movie isn’t to show us how awful the civilians have and how terribly they suffer during wars though. This is not a movie about victims but about heroes.
Ivo and Margus, who have so far refused to leave their homes for greener pastures, unlike most everyone, don’t complain about their fate. Whatever the reasons that have brought them not to leave -and we never find out what they are- they make do with the situation, enduring the hardships and finding comfort in the small joys they are permitted. They are not optimists but they refuse to give up or to allow themselves an easy cynicism.
These are but the bones of the movie. Its meat is the character arcs of two other characters : Ahmed and Niko. They’re from opposite sides of the conflict and each one is responsible for the deaths of the other’s comrades in arms. Wounded, they are forced to convalesce under Ivo’s roof.
We all know how this is bound to end. Both enemies will set aside their differences as they are reminded of each other’s humanity and become close. Nothing that’s never been done before but It’s how it’s done that matters. And that is one hell of a ride. Ivo plays like a grandfather to his two guests. They respect him and are ashamed when they let their temper get the better of them. They will not insult his hospitality by killing each other under his roof and while they are force to share geography as they get better, it is inevitable they should talk. There are no big epiphanies, no sudden realizations. They grow to care about each other as one does with someone one has spent some time next to. I suspect their shared traumatism is of some help in bringing them together.
There is a simplicity about Tangerines. The dialogue feels genuine and there is some great acting by all involved, especially Ivo and his two guests. I mean great in that unexpected sense of someone who has never watched these actors (possibly nonprofessional’s ?) before and enjoyed them tremendously. The cinematography is straightforward and there is an earthiness about the outside shots. There are some beautiful close-ups, particularly the first and last scenes of the movie that bookend it perfectly. There is so much of the film summed up in those few seconds.
Tangerines was a profoundly joyous experience. The subject is anything but light hearted but the dialogue is so good I sometimes myself grinning. It gets elegantly at the core of the characters and at the things that really matter : life, everyone’s, is all too important, and that importance is all too easily (and often) forgotten. Here is a magnificent reminder of it. War is a pointless, absurd thing. That is made painfully plain here. Painfully, beautifully plain.
9/10 – Excellent
Pretensiously Yours 
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