Small in scale and antiwar in subject, “Tangerines” is the kind of story that almost always gets called a fable. Most such projects can get gooey about how we’re really all brothers under the skin, and this one is no exception — it was one of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, after all. But even if this theme is low-hanging fruit, the movie is so well made and acted that it quietly wins the day.
“Tangerines” officially represented Estonia at the Oscars, but it is set in another part of the world: Abkhazia, a fragment from the old Soviet Union. In 1992, civil war has broken out between Georgians seeking to keep the autonomous region under Georgia’s control and Russian-backed separatists. (It’s an old and complicated dispute.)
The area’s long-abiding Estonian population has mostly been driven out, save for Ivo (the dignified Lembit Ulfsak), a carpenter. He lives in the countryside and makes crates for his neighbor Margus (Elmo Nüganen), a tangerine grower.
A shoot-out in front of their houses leaves two wounded fighters to care for: Ahmed (Giorgi Nakhashidze), a Chechen mercenary, and Niko (Mikheil Meskhi), a Georgian soldier; both are taken in to Ivo’s house to recuperate. They’re seriously wounded, but Ahmed is insistent that he will kill Niko the first chance he gets.
Out of respect for his courtly host, Ahmed promises not to murder Niko within the walls of the house. (It’s a measure of the movie’s civilized attitude that the smoldering Ahmed can later joke about this vow, even if he still means it.) As the four men hang around together — there are no women here — they begin to get along.
Director Zaza Urushadze follows a standard humanist line, and most of “Tangerines” is easy to predict. The final 15 minutes come together in a potent way, however, and the performers are grounded in their roles.
Ulfsak is excellent as the Gregory Peck figure, carrying the kind of easy authority that comes after a long career (the man’s got a lot of credits, most of which have been unseen by U.S. viewers).
Nakhashidze is splendid as the malcontent; he carries a life story in his world-weary facial expressions. Casting directors, take heed: This guy is a character-star waiting to be noticed.
“Tangerines” (3 stars)
This antiwar fable was a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Oscars. Its we-are-all-brothers message contains no surprises, but the movie’s very well acted in its tale of a civil war encounter in a disputed area of former Soviet Georgia. In Estonian and Russian, with English subtitles.
Rating: Not rated; probably PG-13 for violence
Showing: SIFF Uptown
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