***

Dersu Uzala is told through the eyes of a Russian topographer, Captain Arseniev (Yuri Solomin), who leads a military expedition in 1902 to map the Ussuri region of Siberia, near the border of China. One night, their camp is stumbled upon by a squat, comical hunter, Dersu Uzala (Maksim Munzuk), a superstitious member of the Goldi people, a vestige of the region's more primitive inhabitants. At first, the soldiers scoff at Dersu's peculiar habits: conversing with a crackling fire, reading footprints in uncanny detail, insisting they leave a store of supplies behind when they depart from a vacant shack (so the next inhabitant will have food and fire).

But there is much practical wisdom in the gnomish hunter's eccentricities. When the soldiers take target practice on a bottle swinging from a rope, Dersu chides them for the waste of resources. After proving his superior aim by shooting the rope, he pockets the unbroken glass bottle, explaining that it is a rare commodity so far from civilization.

In the film's justly celebrated centerpiece, Dersu and Arseniev are isolated and disoriented on a frozen tundra without camping gear. As the sun begins to set (bringing with it certain death in the bitter cold), Dersu commands Arseniev to begin cutting stalks of grass, and struggles to construct a makeshift shelter as they are buffeted by freezing winds. It is a sequence of riveting tension and extraordinary beauty (in one shot, you can actually watch the sun disappear from the sky as the characters struggle with the bullrushes in the foreground).

Russian Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1

Edition Details:

• All Regions
• Color, Widescreen
• Widescreen letterbox format

• Specs and Features
  
• 140 mins
• NR,
• letterboxed widescreen (2.35:1)
• single-sided
• RSDL dual-layered (layer switch 1:16:54, in chapter 14)
• Snapper case packaging
• American theatrical release trailer
• film-themed menu screens
• scene access (27 chapters)

________________________

_____________________________

NOTE: there is also another DVD version of this film from RusCiCo, The Russian Cinema Council:

Click to access

Audio: Russian, English, French

Subtitles: Russian, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Japanese, Herbew, Swedish, Chinese, Arabic

Special Features: 

• Interview with actor Yuri Solomin.
• Behind the scenes.
• Biography of writer V.K. Arsenyev.
• Cast and Crew Filmographies.
• Photo Album.

NOTE: the first two discs are exactly the same as the Korean, except added subtitles.