Zaza Urushadze, known for the Golden Globe nominated  Tangerines (2013), passed away one year ago in his hometown of Tbilisi, Georgia. He was 54 and Anton is his posthumously released farewell movie.
Two children, supine on the haystack, look at the clouds flowing in the sky. It is the year 1919. The story takes place in a small town in Ukraine, a region established by German families many decades earlier to cultivate the rich land near the Black Sea.Two almost teenagers, Anton and Jakob are true friends. Together, they find strength and comfort. It is a friendship shaped by their passion for looking at the clouds and the meaning of the sky as they imagine it.
Although Anton is Catholic and Jakob is Jewish, their friendship is more powerful than their diverse religious backgrounds. Their faith in others as children and in the imaginary world they create protects them from the fear, violence and divisions that surround them.
We are in the midst of the Russian Revolution and the boys get separated. Anton’s family finally flees Ukraine to seek a new life, while the memory of their friendship lingers over the decades, shaping their lives until they finally meet again as Anton approaches death.
This film explores how the universal bonds of childhood friendship are stronger than the prejudices of an adult world torn apart by hatred and revenge in the wake of World War I and the Russian Revolution. It emphasizes the true meaning of friendship.
The film is the perfect farewell of a talented writer and director who cared for humanity and the twists of fate that shape our lives. An alternative title for this movie was Trotsky’s Secret and Russian Revolution. The presence of Leon Trotsky in the film and how these two kids may have changed the course of history is the finest surprise of this movie.