Directed by Zaza Urushadze  Reviewed by Paul Sorrell

In a world riven by ethnic and religious tensions, and torn by disputes over land and resources, this film delivers a powerful message of peace and hope. It tells the story of two tangerine farmers, Ivo and Margus, both Estonian migrants living in the Abkhazian region of Georgia who are desperate to gather their harvest and send it to market before war erupts around them, making normal life impossible. It is a story of hatred and suffering but also of love and loyalty – of ties forged across ethnic divides that at the beginning of the film seem like unbridgeable chasms.

The year is 1992 and, in the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Union, this small corner of Georgia is being fought over by roving bands of Georgian fighters and Abkhazian separatists. The last of their community to leave, Ivo patiently makes fruit boxes while Margus struggles to pick the abundant crop on his own. When the war at last reaches their land, Ivo takes in two wounded combatants, a Chechen mercenary fighting for the Abkhazians and a Georgian volunteer, housing them in separate rooms in his cottage. Ivo is no softie, employing an iron discipline to keep his two charges from carrying out their threats to kill each other. As armed bands range the district, we fear that Ivo’s evenhanded compassion and generosity will have terrible consequences for him.

As the two recovering soldiers are thrown together in the domestic life of the cottage under Ivo’s stern but fatherly eye, their implacable hatred begins to crumble, along with the national, ethnic and religious stereotypes that have locked them into separate worlds. The only female presence in the film is a photograph of Ivo’s granddaughter, which catches the eye of the young Georgian, Niko. She represents everything – beauty, order, domesticity, life itself – that the wounded combatants have forgotten. Like the tangerines which provide the only splash of colour in this dark-hued film, she offers a powerful reminder of the beauty and joy of ordinary life.

Tangerines is uncompromising in its presentation of the reality of war and what genuine peace might mean – there is never a hint of sentimentality or falseness. We have no idea where the film will take us next and it held me gripped till the very last scene. It is worth staying for the credits, where all the countries involved in the conflict are listed as co-producers of this important and never more relevant film.