Movie No. 100 (2104): TANGERINES

Tangerines (a.k.a. Mandariinid) (2013)
Director: Zaza Urushadze
Cast: Lembit Ulfsak, Misha Meskhi, Giorgi Nakashidze, Elmo Nuganen
In Estonian, Georgian, Russian, and Chechen, with English subtitles

This is one of the best films I've seen this year.

The movie is a morality play between to warring soldiers from opposite sides of the infamous conflict of the early 1990s between Georgia and Chechnya, fighting over a piece of land called Abkhazia. The soldiers use words as weapons and their battle field is the house of a tangerine farmer. The two soldiers are survivors of the crossfire that occurred just in front of another farmer's house. The two farmers raise tangerines in the conflict land; they're the only ones left in Abkhazia when all the others have already left for Estonia since the start of the war. Caught in the crossfire, they buried the dead soldiers and nurse and feed the two wounded survivors. These two soldiers agree to a pact that they don't kill each other while inside the house. And this is where the movies gets interesting.

The movie is unexpectedly full of heart and humor, and it never once loses its intensity.  The conflict it presents is resonating, something that's not easily forgotten. I think this movie will stay with me for long time. I even plan to see it in the future once in a while. This is cinema at its best.

Rating: 4.0/4.0

Date seen: December 26, 2014