hrkepler It is extraordinarily beautiful film. Maksim Munzik stars as Dersu, a lonely hunter with lots of 'nature's street smarts'. He befriends with the Russian army captain who leads the team of explorers in Siberia. 'Dersu Uzala' is a tale about survival and man's ancient quest to conquer nature. It's also a tale about finding your own soul. While Dersu leads army captain and his men through rough terrains (doing it without any interest getting personal gains) he tells them about forest, and amazes them with his positive and seemingly naive (very wise, actually) outlook on life. Respect towards man and animals, living or nonliving - Dersu calls everything men or people (ljudi).Very beautiful film, but not only because of magnificent cinematography or Akira Kurosawa's masterful direction, but more because of the beautiful soul of Dersu.

Koundinya Winner, Best Foreign Language Film, 1976.Kurosawa's best film in color. It is one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Kurosawa takes you to the colorful and picturesque forests of Siberia; a treat to sore eyes.Dersu, a hunter in the forest, is a true son of the forest. He converses with all the life forms and treats them as fellow men with respect and fear. The soldiers ridicule his old-fashioned behavior but the captain sees him more than his customs- as a professional hunter and a guide. Dersu leads the troop into the Siberian forests, leaves them spellbound with his perfect aiming of the gun and his ever-alert ears that would sense even the faintest of the sounds. Dersu saves the life of the captain when they get lost and are caught in a fierce storm and the design of the cave-like-structure that saved captain's life further increases the admiration the captain has towards Dersu.Years later, the captain leads another troop on an exploration into the forest and the soldiers happen to meet Dersu. Dersu becomes a senile, crotchety codger and his sharp eyesight diminishes. He is persuaded by the captain to rest at his place in the town but he feels he doesn't fit among the fast-moving and weird world where people pay for water. He is later found dead after being killed by a thief who stole the gun gifted by the captain and the captain performs the obsequies in respect for their friendship.

Murtaza Ali Dersu Uzala is not just the quintessence of pristine cinema or a landmark in art cinema, but is also a living proof that brilliance can be achieved with absolute simplicity. Storytelling is undoubtedly one of the most potent tools known to man: from the Illiad and Odyssey of Homer to the tales of Jataka, to the 1001 nights of Arabia, to the tales of Panchatantra, to the plays of Shakespeare, man has always found ways to amuse himself by spinning the yarn of his imagination. These tales, though picturesque, fantastic and resplendent, mostly overlooked the potency of austerity vis-à-vis grandeur as an element of revelation powerful enough to transcend the effects of all other affects know to man. Only a handful of storytellers like Akira Kurosawa and Satyajit Ray have shown the grit and perspicacity to use simplicity as the weapon to incite and hence portray the deepest of the human emotions on the celluloid. Kurosawa demonstrated the might of simplicity as an element that can pack a punch for the first time in Ikiru and followed it up with an unending list of pristine cinematic masterpieces including Seven Samurai. But, even Kurosawa's greatest critic would not find it hard to concede that cinema does not get any purer than Dersu Uzala. Dersu Uzala is a poignant tale of human bonding of trust, friendship and adoration between two contrasting individuals: a nomadic hunter and an army explorer. Captain Arseniev and his troops are on a topographic expedition and while camping during a night, they come across Dersu, who happens to be an aboriginal (Goldi) tribesman. Being fully aware of the handicap of being in a remote and tricky territory and of the indispensability of having an indigene in the ranks, Arseniev asks Dersu to be their guide. Dersu being humbled by Arseniev's courtesy obliges his offer almost immediately. We soon witness a great sense of camaraderie developing between the two of them as Dersu rises in status from being a comrade to a stalwart and a friend in the eyes of the captain. The long years of experience had equipped Dersu with a great sense of intuition and psychic-like abilities to anticipate change and danger. Dersu uses his skills to good effect as he maneuvers captain and his troops through the harsh Siberian terrain, sheltering and guarding them from the cruelties and wilderness of the Tundra. Behind the façade of a rugged hunter, we see a man of profound intellect and deep compassion in Dersu which is most conspicuous in his respect for the old Chinese and his selflessness in rescuing Captain Arseniev and one of his men. After the expedition is over, Arseniev embraces Dersu and bids him farewell as Dersu returns to the wilderness. Few years later, when Arseniev returns to Siberia on another expedition, he once again encounters Dersu, who again proves to be handy, only this time round he appears to be aging really fast as time, which can be a great healer as well as a great leveler, had begun to take a toll on the Goldi. His eyesight deteriorates under the superstitious effect of a self-imposed curse after having killed a Siberian tiger, which the Goldis worship, in an act of self-defence. Arseniev, in his pitied adoration for Dersu, takes him to the city to live with his family. Arseniev's son gets greatly attached to Dersu and his story-telling abilities, but Dersu finds it difficult to adapt to the relatively restricted and significantly tamed urban life and soon realizes that his life has been reduced to that of a captive. He implores the captain to let him return to the wilderness of the woods. With great reluctance, Arseniev grants him the permission to leave, but not before presenting his savior with a brand new rifle as a parting gift and a souvenir. Few months later, Arseniev receives a letter informing him that a dead body of a Goldi has been found with no identification on it barring Arseniev's visiting card. As Arseniev pays a visit to the place of burial, he identifies the dead Goldi to be none other than Dersu Uzala. The investigating officer speculates the Goldi's brand new rifle might have lured someone into killing him.Dersu Uzala is not just a movie, but is an experience of a lifetime. Dersu Uzala is the only movie that Akira Kurosawa shot in a language other than Japanese and he proved it once and for all that cinema at its most pristine, knows no bounds or barriers. Kurosawa uses his auteurist mastery to bring the memoirs of Russian explorer, Vladimir Arsenyev to life as he inexplicably metamorphoses cinema to new levels of poignancy and pristineness. The cinematography is breathtakingly picturesque and it evokes a sense of melancholy that makes the majestic Siberian wilderness appear hypnotic and at times, surreal. The panoramic shot of Dersu and Arseniev looking at the horizon caparisoned with the juxtaposition of the setting sun and the rising moon is also indicative of their respective lives: Dersu is long past his prime and there is no hope for revival, but Arsieniev's is still in his prime and has a promising career ahead. Dersu Uzala is strongly suggestive of the sole consistency in human life: change. It also demonstrates the might of nature as an unforgiving force, strong enough to humble even the most savage of the creatures. Dersu Uzala can also be termed as an allegorical account of the environmental imbalance that unrestrained human intervention is causing. Dersu Uzala, besides being one of Kurosawa's greatest masterpieces is one of those rare cinematic gems which can be relished again and again, each time with a completely different perspective. It's a must watch for everyone who loves and understands cinema. 10/10For more on cinema visit: http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com/

stephenksmith Kurosawa is first and foremost, a story-teller. Through his stories we see much of ourselves--who we are, can be, the limits of our ethos and preconceived notions of who we are or capable of. Kurosawa amazes us with his range. Stories set in contemporary Japan. Ancient Japan. From businessmen to detectives to .... a strong little man living alone in the most desolate land on earth--Siberia. It is based on memoirs? of a Russian Army Captain who encountered Dersu at the end of the 19th century, when Russia was still mapping what it was--something that George Washington did when our country was unexplored. The story, of course, cannot avoid the necessary comparison of modern man with paleolithic nomadic man. What is good, evil, the measure of men specific to one's time. What senses have we lost or have been dulled by living in cocoons of civilization, warm houses and shared responsibility for warding off cruel nature and the creatures who inhabit the shadows outside the firelight. How important are fire, salt, matches, ammo.... all precious things that should be husbanded and even left in forest shelters for those who might need them in times of privation and soul lost wandering. Dersu says, "You bad man!" and "You very good man." and sometimes to the same man! He sees that no man is either all good or evil, but is capable in each moment of becoming either. We see men whose"normal" lives in civilization were shattered, and they went out into the wilderness to die or live, and let the gods determine their fate. I fell in love with this movie. And I laugh at many of us--the most modern and out-of-touch with nature: nature as beauty and as cruel harvester of our bodies when we can no longer push headlong into the dark blizzard. Now, so many of us dishonor the remaining tigers, bears, apex predators and a world seemed too green and gauzy and nonthreatening to so many. Why not go for a jog in the Colorado mountains? How many are killed, eaten by mountain lions, because they didn't respect nature as she is. Bears, wolves--why they won't hurt you if you but sit and gaze upon them with zen-like concentration--I fear you not, my brother. Yet this movie shows that we need not hate what ultimately comes to take us away to that land from in no traveler returns. The tiger is a god. And when one cannot kill him, clean and swift, and he runs away, then the gods say you will die soon. Not just a pretty creature to aim one's camera or rifle at and sigh. Or that fool in Herzog's "Grizzly Man". Anyone who knows the out of doors and the power nature still has over us, can only laugh at the idiot who pranced and danced amongst the grizzlies. Well, joke's on you, mister. It just so happened your hubris and modern sensibilities and lies you've told yourself about nature came around to bite you..... et' you.Dersu Uzala is the divine opposite of Herzog's either ironic or stupid "Grizzly Man". Nature was neither a winter playground or an ugly place at all. For Dersu reveled in the smells, sounds and cornering winds that made the fire become something different with each poke of an ember reddened stick. Where life is now in the living. And nature is neither Disneyland nor a living hell, but is the relentless earth, moiling and seething, buckling up and taking one finally, in the end. A superb movie that should be seen by many many more folk.