Review of Tangerines (2013) by Alberto A — 08 Feb 2015

Tangerines is a touching and captivating story about individuals trapped in a conflict which either they do not understand, they do not agree, or they are completely oblivious and indifferent to the consequences of their actions. Louis Proyect said: "In an age of incestuous ties between the Pentagon and Hollywood that produces films like "American Sniper", thank god for the Estonians who remind us of what a horror war is." And I could not agree more. Tangerines is an Estonian film directed by Zaza Urushadze nominated this year for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It is, essentially, a film about the collateral damages and stupidity of war, shown in an extremely small scale.

Ivo, the protagonist, is just a person trying to keep his tangerine business in the midst of yet another pointless war. This time between the Abkhazians and the Georgians in 1992. Almost alone in the countryside, Ivo's family was forced to go back to Estonia but he remains there because he still believes there is some goodness in humans. Thanks to the war and some wounds, Ivo takes care of an Abkhazian militant and a Georgian soldier and makes sure they literally don't slaughter each other, striving for tolerance above all like a citizen of the world would do.

I'm not Georgian, nor Estonian, nor Abkhazian. I'm not even European. However the beauty of Tangerines is that I can identify with the characters and at the same time, join the cause for tolerance, because that is supposed to be a universal value. As Ivo said, it does not matter that we come from different places. Characters like him should be celebrated worldwide because through him we can see global awareness, respect, and tolerance. The world needs more movies like this, honestly, the world just keeps getting worse, but maybe art can make a difference. Tangerines is definitely one of the best films I have seen this year.