Dersu Uzala Reviews and Ratings



  • August 26, 2009
    A simple but beautiful character, a sweet and sour story, a great direstor. This film has everything to become one of my favorites.
  • August 1, 2009
    I think this is among his best work, but I don't hear it talked about as much as some other things. Maybe, it's just my Siberia love.
  • July 23, 2009
    http://content8.flixster.com/movie/30/37/303726_tmb.jpg
  • January 6, 2009
    Fucking classic loved it all the way baby.
  • January 2, 2009
    Gr8 cinematography, gud plot. Another krosawa's masterpeace
  • January 1, 2009
    1902: Arseniev (Yuri Solomin), a czarist officer and his men exploit and map the Usuri-region. The gigantic pine-forests of the Taiga evoke visions of the Walpurgis-night. Dersu Uzala (Maxim Munzuk) sits down at their camp-fire and smokes his pipe. The old man who lost his wife a...( read more)nd children during a smallpox epidemic lives in the mountains without permanent refuge and hunts the stag, the wild boar, the sable. He benefits from the nature but does not exhaust it. As a matter of course he takes the lead of the expedition, shows them how to cover a roof with bark and instructs them to leave stock - rice, salt, matches - for other travelers. They learn not to squander cartridges and that an empty bottle is valuable in the wilderness. They wade through the morass and suddenly the winter sets in.

    Arseniev and Dersu lose their way on the ice-covered lake Hanka and the snow-drift covers their footprints. Their race against time is perhaps the most breathtaking scene in the film: the men cut as many blades of grass as possible in order to survive the cold night. Arseniev realizes how small man is in front of the big nature. He invites Dersu to join him ("It' comfortable in the city") but he prefers his free life. He sees the men off to the train station and they agree: " He is such a good man!".

    1907, spring, snow-break: Arseniev explores the Usuri-region again. Three months later a vast territory has been mapped, but the task would be carried through quicker with Dersu's help. Arseniev looks out for his old friend: Dersu made much money with furs but a trader disappeared with his savings.

    The Taiga in summer is a jungle. "Amdar" (the tiger) follows them. They discover pitfalls with carrion; Dersu is shocked over their needless death. He is at war with the Chunchuse who abduct women. Arseniev helps him save three of their victims who were nearly drowning, but Dersu falls in a torrential river and the rescue-operation is another absorbing (and ingenious) moment in the film.

    The turning point in Dersu's life comes when he inadvertently kills the tiger. He becomes nervous and irritable and fears that the spirit "Kangar" will punish him. His vision becomes defective; he misses his game. "How can I live in the Taiga?". Arseniev invites him to Chaberowsk: "My house is your house". His wife welcomes Dersu in their house and his little son worships him, but Dersu cannot manage life in the city where water and wood cost money; He is arrested when he tries to fell a tree...He feels redundant and decides to return to the mountains. Arseniev understands his request and gives him a brand-new gun as farewell-present. A few days later he is forced to identify his old friend's body: Somebody killed Dersu - for his gun.

    DERSU UZALA needs no recommendation: it won best foreign film in 1975 and every fan of Akira Kurosawa will see it sooner or later. Central Asia, this gigantic territory is awe-inspiring in itself (and bear in mind that there is no wilderness in Japan where nearly every tree has been cultivated for aesthetic reasons) and the cinematography is overwhelming - I regret that I have not seen the film on the big screen. What impressed me most was the high-mindedness of the performances. There is not one patronizing undertone. Deep respect for those people who live in, of, and most importantly, with the nature pervades this film.
  • December 23, 2008
    ¿Quien puede discutir que Kurosawa era un genio?
    Los pasajes de la tundra siberiana son increibles. El personaje del cazador logra ser a la vez sublime y patetico. Eso si, hay que verla con calma porque se hace pesada
  • December 8, 2008
    no thanks not my thing
  • November 9, 2008
    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. amazin...( read more)g on every front.
  • September 19, 2008
    Two rich characters but a little drawn out for my tastes.
  • August 27, 2008
    I liked this movie for several reasons. First thing, it's Kurosawa, and that guarantees quality. Second, I'm surveyor so I'm always glad to see my "colleagues" on motion pictures. Third, I like Russian movies, and this one is just that. And last, but most important, Dersu Uzala i...( read more)s such an awesome character it's really impossible not to like him. Also this movie has such breathtaking sights it's amazing.
  • July 3, 2008
    want to see this because it won best foreign-language film at the oscars
  • April 23, 2008
    On a surveying expedition the Captain and his men cross paths with Dersu, a "gold' or Nanai hunter. Dersu has lived in the siberian forests for the majority of his life and is at one with his environment.

    He agrees to guide the party of soldiers along their way. The men, parti...( read more)cually the captain develop a strong camaraderie with Dersu. On several occasions Dersu's wisdom saves the captain from the perils of mother nature. Dersu and the captain provide a classic cinema partnership.

    The film was shot over 2 years and the cinematography of the russian wilderness is quite spectacular.

    A film of such epic proportions is impossible to be contained within a review.

    Highly recommended
  • March 4, 2008
    Great story, well told.
  • March 3, 2008
    This might be the perfect example that a movie can be slow without being the least bit boring.
  • January 19, 2008
    One of Kurosawa's best and finest films. A required see for any filmgoer.
  • November 18, 2007
    Has Akira Kurosawa done any other movies in Russian? unforgetable story of the friendship between a russian captian and a Mongolian hunter nomad.
  • October 11, 2007
    Quite simply a majestic bit of film-making...beauitful!
  • October 5, 2007
    Kurosawa takes his landmark film making out of Japan and into Russia to show us a Goldi woodsman name Dersu form a beautiful and true friendship with a Russian explorer. The development of the two is personal and touching, and it reaches deeply. Kurosawa paints the wilderness lik...( read more)e a portrait, with beauty in each perfectly framed shot. Although the movie lags at a few points, it remains beautiful by almost any standard.
  • August 31, 2007
    I gotta see this film!!! Its definitely on my Must See List As Soon As Possible!! Probably one of the most interesting recos someone has ever gave me :D
  • August 20, 2007
    "Dersu Uzala" is, first and foremost, beautiful. The it's interesting on a intellectual level. It is true that the script is particularly deep, but the sheer beauty of the film must not be missed. Dersu himself is a great character, one of the greatest perhaps, in film history. H...( read more)e represents nature and purity without bringing it down to clichés, and remains a poetic reminder of everything that we have lost. Even though I watched the film in the theater, it had terrible quality (it must have been stored for 30 years), it was still amazing and gorgeous. It's one of Kurosawa's most easily overlooked pictures, but it may be his most visually stunning, and one of his truest poems.
  • August 16, 2007
    An epic tale on the story of man and mother nature. Kurosawa's Russian journey through the wilderness of friendship and old age.
  • May 23, 2007
    If you ever want to experience living in the wilderness just watch this movie. It's just amazing to think of what it took to make this film
  • May 20, 2007
    I love this one. I think this stint in Russia completely revitalized Kurosawa.
  • April 13, 2007
    Una obra de arte de Akira kurosava
  • April 8, 2007
    One of my top favs... me and my brother just love this one!
  • March 27, 2007
    Brilliant!!See other countries films!!
  • March 26, 2007
    In Russian. Directed by Kurosawa. A great friendship story set in the beauty of Siberia.
  • March 11, 2007
    Yet another Kurosawa masterpiece...
  • March 8, 2007
    the scene in star wars, where Luke it standing in front of a sunset with 2 suns, was probibily inspired by this film. Kurosawa did not use special effects for this shot.
  • March 4, 2007
    A lesson of life. Please see it.
  • January 11, 2007
    the look of an epic from the soviet perspective with the genius of kurosawa makes for one of the most incredible films ever made, a thrilling story and great acting, simply stellar and an achievement
  • December 24, 2006
    Belleza pura... La noción se queda corta; la película más hermosa que puedan ver...
  • December 16, 2006
    One of my five top favorite films from one of my top five directors. Too powerful a story of relationship and existence to characterize. Watch it yourself.
  • December 12, 2006
    este filme é uma obra prima.
  • December 6, 2006
    I wonder what this is about, i think ill see it!
  • November 15, 2006
    Una de la mejores peliculas de este brillante director. Una absoluta joya del cine.
  • October 26, 2006
    Beautiful, it just breaks your heart
  • October 22, 2006
    Debieron hacer monos de peluche con la imagen de Derzu Uzala. Yo hubiera comprado uno. Gran filme.
  • July 16, 2006
    A great yet unusual film for Kurosawa.
  • June 8, 2006
    The most technically impressive Kurosawa.
  • May 31, 2006
    Everything sad and wonderful in the world summated in the one film. Beguiling, and the greatest film ever.

Summary


Dersu Uzala Summary