A few months after his notorious suicide attempt, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was regenerated by the notion of helming the first Russian/Japanese co-production. Co-scripted and directed by Kurosawa, Dersu Uzala is the story of an elderly guide and Goldi hunter (Maxim Munzuk), who, at the turn of the century, agrees to shepherd a Russian explorer (Yuri Solomin) and a troop of soldiers through the most treacherous passages of the Far East. The guide has been "one" with the land almost from
birth, and is thus able to save his party from perishing. Four years in the making, Dersu Uzala won the 1976 Best Foreign Film Oscar and restored the flagging Akira Kurosawa to the top ranks of the Japanese film industry. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The episodes in this second part go on endlessly, loosely, obviously. They lack the revelations of the winter scenes and they do little but belabor at length the points already made. They wreck the film's balance and make its achievements dull.
To Arseniev, Dersu embodies something civilized men have lost… Neither can really understand the other — which is precisely what makes their friendship so special.
the ultimate man vs. wild. bear grills has nothing on dersu uzala. another of the many absolute masterpieces by kurosawa, this film is possibly the best man vs. nature film ever made. tragedy makes the man that becomes so great that the world will no longer accept him. amazing on every front.
January 29, 2007
danny d
Super Reviewer
For whatever reason Kurosawa's works were always far more appreciated in western society than in his native Japan. After his split with Mifune the nation seemed to embrace the actor and vilify the director. Kurosawa was unable to get financing to make any new films and it was up to other countries to keep the master
directer working with films like Tora, Tora, Tora and Dersu Uzala. A few months after his notorious suicide attempt Kurosawa signed on to direct the first ever film collaboration between Russia and Japan. Dersu Uzala is the story of an elderly woodsman who guides some Russian explorers through the wilderness and on more than one occasion saves their lives. He builds a strong friendship with Capt. Vladimir Arseniev and so taken by the old man is he that Vladimir decides after the expedition to bring Uzala to his home and care for him. Unfortunately civilization is so strange and unwelcome to Uzala and he struggles to fit in or find happiness. His health begins to fail and Vladimir wonders if he was right to remove the man from his natural environment. It is here when the film is at it's most emotional and memorable.
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