Mandariinid
Tangerines - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
Cinema is a big fraud.
— Ivo
Context:
Said to Margus and Juhan after they push a shot-up military van down a ravine, and they are disappointed that it fails to explode like it would in the movies.
Meaning:
A meta-commentary on how war films often romanticize violence with fiery explosions and glory, whereas real violence is dull, heavy, and tragic.
To kill a person who is sleeping, even if he is unconscious? This is holy for you as well? I didn't know.
— Ivo
Context:
Ivo challenges Ahmed's assertion that it is his "holy" duty to murder the vulnerable, unconscious Georgian soldier sleeping in the next room.
Meaning:
Ivo calmly dismantles the religious and nationalistic justifications for violence, exposing the inherent cowardice in revenge.
It's a war over my tangerines.
— Margus
Context:
Margus grimly jokes about the nature of the "Citrus War" going on around them, lamenting that the conflict will destroy his crop.
Meaning:
Highlights the absurdity of the conflict. The soldiers fight over abstract concepts of land, while the actual, physical fruits of that land are left to rot or be destroyed by the fighting.
No, I have to kill him myself.
— Ahmed
Context:
Ahmed tells Ivo he won't give Nika up to passing Abkhazian troops, using his "vow" of personal revenge to hide the fact that he no longer wants Nika dead.
Meaning:
Initially spoken out of vengeance, the phrase takes on an ironic meaning as it becomes Ahmed's excuse to protect Nika from other soldiers, showing his shift from enemy to protector.