Mandariinid

Ethnic and/or religious armed conflicts are always particularly painful, "realpolitik" vs. history, perceptions vs. actual circumstances, victims vs. profiteers, etc. The War in Abkhazia (1992–93) was one of the first post-Soviet gory confrontations, with tens of thousands dead, ethnic cleansing, and included the biggest successful rescue operation so far by the Estonian government to save compatriots, not even citizens, as their forebears settled there in 19th century... Many smaller nations, like Estonians, did not choose sides, they just tried to survive and carry on, splendidly expressed through tangerines in the film, but remote weaponry reaches everywhere and does not ask questions (Estonians were not considered hostile by both sides).

All this is nicely presented in this Estonian-Georgian film, where Estonian actors used are all famous film actors (the Georgian ones were unfamiliar to me, but they were convincing), and characters seem very realistic. As far as I know, the topic of honour and keeping word are holy among the Caucasus nations, enabling to depict scenes and events odd and even improbable among the Western, "civilized" nations. The venue is limited to the remains of a village, but as everything is so properly constructed and performed, you do not feel embattled, and can follow and emphasize with all characters, significantly widening the audience and letting ponder on and over the essence of warfare.

PS The film is totally "male", only actors were present, no actresses, but the less than 1,5 hours pass tautly.

This film is flawless and one of the highlights of the Montreal World Film Festival 2014. It also was recognized with many international prizes in Europe, North America and even Israel. It captures the incoherence and inhumanity of war from the point of view of innocent civilians and of dehumanized soldiers. The pace and plot are crisp, compact and conscious-elevating with a spectacular, yet simple screenplay. The cinematography and music match and enhance the emotional and philosophical human drama. The acting from the all-male cast is poignant and powerful in its restraint. Zaza Urushadze's text comes to life like a play in this sometimes claustrophobic confine which only heightens the inherent tension between the protagonists. The directing does however balance this with the sad beauty of rural Abkhazia conflict zone. The simple sets set the mood and this movie is shooting for the moon.

Alexander Kuranov returns as the editor after teaming up with Zaza Urushadze for the excellent multiple story Three Houses (2008) and gets every cut and emotion right. The dialogue, like the film, is raw, unpredictable, mysterious and profound. It brings you the very core of humanity's hopes and fears. The theme of pointless war has rarely been portrayed so perfectly. It surpasses even seminal South Korean The Front Line (2011) and does so in a intellectual and emotionally effective way. Beyond that it is a human drama about people stuck in a conflict and how they decide to deal with it and each other. Is there a glimpse of hope or some guidelines we can learn from?

Be sure that I will be looking for Zaza's previous and next work. This is cinema at it's best.

I never watched any Georgian movie before 'Mandariinid'. So first experience was really so convenient and remarkable. This movie leads me to step forward in Georgian cinema crowd.

The tenderness of this movie give peace to the audience. The certainty of this movie contain peace,sympathy,humanity,courtesy,generosity.This cinema is one of the most influencing visionary art of anti war. This cinema has a ability and eligibility to persuade the audience into morality.

A Georgian war cinema where Abkhazia want to depart from Georgia. A story of two enemies who hates each other but deep inside a little humanity grow after they passed some time in a house of a old man 'Ivo' who saved their life.The character Ivo is established as a cue of virtuous. There are another guy who works with the old man who harvest the crops of tangerine.

It is definitely a good anti war movie. The cinematography,music,editing composition was upstanding. Specially, cinematography language was established strongly. 'Zaza Urushadze' i will definitely memorize the name.

Zaza Urushadze gives the highest priority to his story. It's a very powerful story carrying a strong antiwar massage. And Urushadze tells it as if he's not there. As if we're watching the actual events taking place before us. This isn't a result of inaptness, this is a deliberate decision to let the story stand in the limelights on its own and avoid anything that could divert the viewers attention from it. You won't find any elaborate shots, any amazing breathtaking sights, no fireworks showing the director's technical mastery. Urushadze tells us about the follies of war and he makes sure that's what we'll get when we see his film. He's aided by superb actors, mainly Lembit Ulfsak playing the strong minded Ivo, a man of few words that makes every word of his count. Reserved, strong willed and determined, a role calling for acting of the highest quality and Lembit Ulfsek is up to the task. In fact there's nothing else to speak about regarding this movie, only the actors, and the director's lean approach to cinematic story telling. Thing is, even when that's all there is if it's done at such level of perfection it's a must see movie.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Mandariinid" (2013) is very good movie. Very realistic (well, maybe bonding between two characters was a bit to quick), with beautiful cinematography, very strong acting, tight and simple but very involving script and top notch directing, this is a true movie gem.

The story itself isn't complicated, although the background in which it takes place maybe is not very well know in Western countries. Nevertheless, it is told with simple and universal language.

Overall, "Mandariinid" is not much a war movie - it's antiwar movie in every sense. The isn't much action, but at running time 1 h 22 min this movie is superbly paced, doesn't drag for a second and is very enjoyable for those who like quite but powerful stories.