This is one of my definite favorites.It tells a story of a man who is one with the wilderness and nature and cant live any other way.Dersu Uzala is an old Goldi(siberian asiatic minority) hunter who thinks he has been cursed after he kills a tiger.To him,every being,every part of the nature is equally worth as humans.
The film gives us accounts of one Russian captain's friendship with Dersu.They are together through thick and thin and Dersu even rescues him from a blizzard when they are stuck on a frozen lake.Dersu has all the natural senses and therefore knows when he is in danger.He knows everything by looking and observing the landscape around him.
So when he kills the tiger,its like a spell has been cast on him.Or is it just his imagination?His people believe in a ghost that rules the taiga,Kanga.He thinks Kanga will punish him in some way.Soon his fears start to get real.He cant kill his prey for food that he needs for living because his eyesight dramatically worsens.One frightening night(my favorite scene) it gets too much for him,listening to the howling wind in the dark,waiting for Kanga to send a tiger to kill him.And captain Arseniev,seeing the horror that struck him,offers him to come with him to his hometown.It happens so.
Throughout the film,you cant help but wonder what will happen to Dersu.Not only because in the beginning Arseniev searches for his grave,in retrospection,but also because he is one lonely,sad man who lives only by hunting.There is no place for him but the taiga.And when the tragedy happens,its hard not to feel remorse and pity the old Dersu.His world has come crashing down.The end specially is painful and shows that there is no mercy in this world for a man who falls from grace in his own homeground.
In the end,this film has outstanding photography,outstanding music,outstanding cast,beautiful scenery and do i need to say anything about the director? A timeless work that can never be surpassed.
