Director: Akira Kurosawa
Script: Akira Kurosawa, Yuri Nagabin, after Vladimir Arseniev's travel memoirs, Dersu the Hunter: Adventures in the Taiga and Dersu the Trapper
Cinematograoher: Asakazu Nakai, Yuri Gantman, F. Dobronravov
Editor: V. Stepanovoi
Music: Isaac Schwartz
Cast: Maxime Munzuk, Yuri Solomine, S. Danilchenko, Dima Kortishev
Production: Mosfilm, Toho, Nippon Herald Production
Distribution:
Arkéion Films
12, rue de Chartres
92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine
France
Tel: 0033 1.46.43.23.59
Fax: 0033 1.46.43.23.50
Mail: [email protected]
Year: 1975
35 mm, Colour, 141 min,
OV Japanese with French Subtitles
Grand Prize Moscow Film Festival
Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film
At the beginning of 20th century, Vladimir Arseniev, a young topographer officer, is leading an expedition in charge of the cartography of an unexplored area of the Oussouri region at the boarder of China. He meets a small stocky man, a sable hunter who knows the region better than anyone else. Straightaway Vladimir likes Derzou Ouzala who has been living alone in the forest after his wife and son died. Derzou now leads the expedition which will have to face a hostile nature and extreme climatic conditions. Thanks to him, soldiers will avoid an inevitable death. Five years later, the two men meet in the taïga. Derzou agrees to be their leader once more, but his sight has become weak and he cannot hunt anymore. He resigns himself to accepting the invitation of his “captain” to come and live with him in Khabarovsk… Inspired by Vladimir Arseniev’s eponymous novel, Akira Kurosawa’s film depicts the deep friendship between two men from different origins and cultures, and at the same time raises the alarm, begging us to remain as much as possible in harmony with nature.
