Dersu Uzala (1975)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Vladimir Arsenyev (book)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)

Release Date:

20 December 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot:

A Russian army explorer who is rescued in Siberia by a rugged Asiatic hunter renews his friendship with...

Plot Keywords:

Explorer | Hunter | Russian | Friendship | Siberia

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 7 wins

Cast

Maksim Munzuk	...	Dersu Uzala
Yuri Solomin	...	Captain Vladimir Arseniev
Svetlana Danilchenko	...	Mrs. Arseniev
Dmitri Korshikov	...	Wowa son of Arsenjev
Suimenkul Chokmorov	...	Jan Bao
Vladimir Kremena	...	Turtwigin
Aleksandr Pyatkov	...	Olenin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mikhail Bychkov		(as M. Bychkov)
Sovetbek Dzhumadylov
B. Khorulev
Nikolai Volkov

Also Known As:

Дерсу Узала (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Derusu Uzara (Japan)
Dersou Ouzala (France) [fr]
Dersu (Finland) [fi]
Dersu Uzala (Argentina) [es]
Dersu Uzala (Poland) [pl]
Dersu Uzala (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Dersu Uzala (Greece) (festival title) [el]
Dersu Uzala (Finland) [fi]
Dersu Uzala (Denmark) [da]
Dersu Uzala, a Águia da Estepe (Portugal) (original subtitled version) [pt]
Dersu Uzala, il piccolo uomo delle grandi pianure (Italy) [it]
El cazador (Spain) [es]
L'aigle de la Taiga (France) (informal title) [fr]
Uzala (Greece) [el]
Uzala, der Kirgise (West Germany) [de]
Vägvisaren (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

144 min

Country:

Soviet Union | Japan

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:U | Australia:G | Finland:K-3 (DVD rating) | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 | USA:G | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Atelier 41

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The rifle Captain Arseniev carries is a Winchester Model 1895 musket. The Russians acquired these rifles in 1915-1916, therefore the Captain most likely would not be issued a Winchester in 1905.

Quotes:

Dersu Uzala: Why man live in box?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) (TV)

Dersu!! Kapitan!!

A wonderful film. It showcases the natural beauty of the Taiga and presents a contrast between the technological and the pastoral. Dersu is one with the forest. He knows its ways and its moods. The Russians scoff at his ways and his 'primitive' belief system, but eventually come to rely on him, and even love him. It is a beautiful story that takes place in an world that very few of us in the West have had a chance to see. I thought the fact that the film was set in the pre-revolutionary period gave it a peculiar sort of charm - Russia before the Great War and the Russian Revolution was innocent and even naive, the same way the Russian soldiers were innocent of the wonders and the dangers of the Taiga. One of the things I loved most about this film was the cinematography - there are long, lingering shots of the landscape, the endless steppe, the forest, the rivers, the mountains. We believe ourselves to be powerful because we have been moderately successful in our attempts to harness nature for our own uses, but the film shows us that we are deluding ourselves, that nature cannot be controlled or resisted, and the truly powerful are those, like Dersu, who co-exist in harmony with nature and learn what the wilderness teaches.