Dersu Uzala
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Distributed by: Mosfilm
Released: July 1975
Country: Soviet Union
Akira Kurosawa is Japan’s most famous director, and this
film, Dersu Uzala, was produced by a Soviet film studio. Filming was done on location in the Russian
Far East wilderness, and many scenes depict the terrifyingly harsh winter
weather of that area. And yet . . . this
movie is, essentially, a Western.
The Western’s most common theme, found in just about every film of
that genre, is that of the conflict between opposites: Civilization and Wilderness. This film is the story of a tribesman of the
Nanai people, an ethnic group almost Korean and almost Turk, living in the
eastern-most recesses of Russia. He is
Dersu Uzala, played wonderfully by Maxim Munzuk. He is Wilderness personified, a man who can
look at tracks and know how close the animal is and can make a shelter of grass
in an hour that can protect a man from a blizzard. And he is living in an age when his way of
life is going away fast.
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| Captain Arseviev and Dersu Uzala |
Backing up a bit: The film starts with a Russian expedition
exploring and surveying the remote area.
Captain Arseniev and his men come upon the odd-looking Dersu, who
agrees to help them in their job. Dersu
has lost his entire family to smallpox and is living a life of a loner, but he
is likable and intelligent. He and
Arseviev quickly become friends and quickly the rest of the group come to
respect him.
Arseviev and Dersu’s paths will cross on a few occasions over the
years, with Dersu saving the Russian captain’s life on more than one
occasion. In one of the film’s more
exciting sequences, the two men have strayed too far from the group when a
great bluster of weather hits them.
Dersu senses the storm somewhat ahead of time, and knows they will not
make it if he does not act quickly.
Though the situation seems hopeless, Dersu’s instincts and knowledge of
the terrain are what allow them to cheat Death.
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| Now that's a knife! |
But Dersu is a superstitious man, a big part of the package of
this complex personality. His
interactions with a tiger, and the fact that he is aging and with poor
eyesight, will lead him to decide to hang up his cleats and retire as a
wayfaring loner. Much like Crocodile
Dundee did in 1986 when he moved from the Outback of Australia to New York
City, Dersu Uzala, having thrived most of his life on his home court, the
Wilderness, will now move to perhaps his most difficult challenge, taking on
Civilization.
Kurosawa was greatly influenced by, and in turn, was a great
influence to, the American Western film. The
Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961) were remade into Westerns The Magnificant
Seven (1960 and 2016) and A Fistful of Dollars (1967). In his
Japanese films, Kurosawa is a master of using climate as a key element of his
movie-making—you will be hard pressed to find one of his films that does not
have intense rain or wind scene, shaping the mood and often affecting the
characters’ actions. Dersu Uzala has
those scenes, but more. It is a movie
about a man living in and being part of his Wilderness. Dersu is a short,
stocky, Asiatic-looking old man living in eastern Russia, but he epitomizes the
Cowboy as much as anyone in a John Ford movie.
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| The real Dersu Uzala |
The Title: Дерсу Узала, based on a 1923 non-fiction book
about this very real man. Believe it or
not, there were two movies with this title, the other one made by the Soviets
in 1961.
The
Culture: Kurosawa considered making this movie early in his
career, before he became an internationally famous director with 1950’s Rashomon. He tabled his idea because he knew that this
was a film that had to be made on location.
Kurosawa captures the cruel climate of this part of Russia in a number
of masterfully shot scenes. But he also
presents the Wilderness, represented by the tribal uncivilized people of this area, with much
respect and dignity. Dersu, a man of
wisdom but great superstition, is presented with admiration and even awe.
Agenda
danger: An admiration of Man’s rugged individualism pervades the film, without some preachy side message about how Man is ruining his environment, which is what we would undoubtedly see if this movie were remade today.
Best
Picture that year: One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Rating: A wonderful film. This is not even in the top five Kurosawa
movies (I would put it at about 9), but if you’ve enjoyed any of his films, one
reason to watch is to see his work away from Japan. I enjoyed the relationship between Dersu and
Arseniev, and the last part of the movie, set in a calm town atmosphere, is as
gripping as the two men’s grappling with nature.
