Dersu Uzala — Dersu Uzala (Blu Ray)
Dersu Uzala is a Siberian wildness set adventure-come-moving drama focusing on a rugged-yet-kindly and wise Asian hunter, who befriends a Russian army explorer in the early 1900s. The beautiful shot and wonderfully realized mid-1970s film highlights the wonders and dangers of nature, as well as keen and deep human friendship. Here from Australia Imprint- is a very wholly needed & very deserved Blu-Ray reissue of this enchanting and moving masterpiece. With the disc taking in a new HD print of the film, a new audio commentary, and a selection of extras.
Released in the year 1975 Dersu Uzala is a Russian/ Chinese production. It was directed by highly regarded Tokyo-born Akira Kurosawa, who directed thirty films over a period of five decades. With his output taking in the likes of low-key and touching drama Ikiru (1952), epic period action film Seven Samurai (1954), detective thriller High And Low (1963), Tokyo slum set drama Dodes'ka-den (1970), an oriental retelling of King Lear Ran (1985), and fantasy drama Dreams (1990).
The film is set in the early 1900s, and centres around Captain Arsenyev (Yury Solomin)- who is in charge of a Russian topographic troop. The film focuses on two breath-taking-if-at times treacherous trips into the Russian Far East wilderness- they are set some five years apart and cover all four seasons. The first trip takes place in 1902, when the surveying expedition set off into the wildness of Shkotovo in the Ussuri region. One night early on in the expedition the captain and his men are settling down for the night- and suddenly there is a noise in the nighttime, and out steps Dersu Uzala(Maxim Munzuk). He is an ageing nomadic pipe-smoking Goldi hunter, who at first the captain and his men see as rather a superstitious and quaint figure. We find out Dersu travels around the wildness hunting- after his wife and child died sometime back from smallpox. As the team lack a guide to the uncharted wildness the captain asks Dersu, and soon find out he is both a knowable tracker and extremely wise.
As the film moves Arsenyev and Dersu bond in mutual respect for each other- the hunter saves the captain's life on several occasions as the brutal and unforgiving winter wholly bites into the wildness. As the expedition nears its finish, Dersu once more slips away into the wildness again solo. And the second half of the film takes place some five years later, as Arsenyev is surveying the mountains Ussuri region- at first without Dersu, but soon the pair re-meet again.
The acting from both Solomin and Munzuk is wonderfully accomplished, nuanced, and at times understatedly moving. The landscape is filmed with a wonderful eye, and you really feel you are following the captain and his hunter friend- as the season's shift and change. There is a score, but this is used fairly sparingly, and more often than not we just have either the sound of the wildness- be it birds, or insects, the crackly of the campfire, or the rain or wind. The film runs at just over two hours and twenty minutes mark- and I must say I was truly spellbound throughout, finding it an eventful and wholly engaging adventure drama, which had me on the edge of my seat, in awe of nature, and at points very much move even tearful. Truly Dersu Uzala is a masterpiece.
Moving onto this new region free blu ray, and we get a new 1080P HD scan of the film- and this really looks wonderful, full of clarity and depth. On the extra side, we get a good selection of things- of the new stuff- there’s a commentary track with Japanese film expert Stuart Galbraith IV, but along the way, he brings in guest experts filling out the elements he is less knowable on- and simply put it’s a wonderfully rich and detailed track. He begins by discussing the Mosfilm logo, and gives a potted history of the studio. Moving on he outlines the ‘guest experts who are going to drop in and out of the tracks two hours and twenty minutes. He touches on the real Captain Arsenyev, and the books he wrote, and its complicated history- at this point, he brings in his first guest- Jonathan Slap of Indiana University press, who translated the first US version of Arsenyev books, as well as touching on the elements cut from the books original printings in Russia. Galbraith returns to give bios on the key cast members and discusses other memorable roles. He talks about the region film is based in, once again bringing in another few experts to discuss it in more detail. We get talk about the ethnic origins of the real Dersu, and how his name was changed slightly in the books/ films. He touches on the stylistic difference between this and Kurosawa's other films. Later on, he talks more in detail about Mosfilm, other notable films released by the studio, and its office location. He talks about the contract Kurosawa signed for the film, how the cast was realised and much more. I can’t recall many commentary tracks where there have been guests, and I must say this does add more depth and interest to the track- which I can easily see myself playing several times over, just to pick up all the facts/ details. Otherwise, on the new extras, we have: Mapping Kurosawa: A History of Dersu Uzala (23.16) interview with film writer and historian Michael Brooke. Sound of the Taiga(17.59) a video essay by music historian David Schecter on the score. On the archive side the following: Actor Yuri Solomin on writer Vladimir Arseniev(3.54).Actor Yuri Solomin on director Akira Kurosawa(9.04). Actor Yuri Solomin discusses the film(6.56) Making of doc(5.02). Archive footage of the real Vladimir Arseniev(0.53).
In finishing this truly is a splendid Blu-Ray release of this world cinema classic from Imprint- with an excellent new scan of the film, and some great new/ archive extras. A gold standard release, of a gold standard film!.