Oleksa Dovbush

This movie tells the heroic history of Oleksa Dovbush. The historical Dovbush, who lived in the Hutsul region of the Carpathians Mountains (Hutsuls are an ancient Ukrainian mountain tribe, which are counted among the most conserved till today) in the early 18th century, was a freedom warrior (=opryshka) who fought against the Polish noble occupation.

The movie - produced in the late 50s, in hardest times of Russian occupation - was one of the first patriotic and national-conscious movies produced in the Soviet Union; it shows a heroic Dovbush, who collected 12 men and started a revolt against the stealing Polish nobles and to protect his robbed people. In an inner conflict between his love to Mariczka, a village girl and his sense of duty for his people he and his men fight using unconventional methods.

Beside the swirling plot about good and bad the movie shows a plenty of mystic rituals, the lifestyle of the ancient Hutsuls, the beauty of the Carpathian Mountains and many forgotten traditions.

"Dovbush" is the tale about the Ukrainian Robin Hood and William Wallace who fought against the bad for the right of freedom. A felicitous romantic and heroic story - one of just a few in Ukraine.