Again and again, Akira Kurosawa describes Dersu Uzala as his vision for how people ought to deal with nature. The somewhat cliche “live in harmony with nature” philosophy he professes in interviews grows overwhelmingly elegant and poignant in his virtuoso photography of the Russian wilderness. The story scheme of a city-dweller meeting a nature-dweller who opens his eyes to the value of the environment may sound tired, but the charm, craft and pathos of Dersu Uzala are undeniable.
Dersu Uzala and Vladamir Arseniev
Two characters fill the movie out: Dersu Uzala, a Siberian woodsman, and Captain Vladimir Arseniev, a professional soldier assigned to map out the Siberian wilderness. Dersu helps Arseniev cross the wilderness once, and five years later they meet again in a different area.
Whilst working together, they are haunted by tigers- creatures that Dersu deeply respects but also fears. In an attempt to scare the creatures off Dersu fires at one- accidentally killing it. Through the rest of the film he deteriorates, growing depressed and irritable over having killed the tiger and losing his eyesight.
The final leg of the movie sees Dersu retired to living with the captain’s family in a village, where he doesn’t fit in. He is incensed that people would charge for firewood or water, and equally mad that they would pay. He eventually leaves the village to die in the wilderness he loved and understood.
Masterful Nature Photography
The nature photography in Dersu Uzala was staggering. In the west we typically don’t get positive images of Siberia’s natural beauty. Contrary to the typical image of a cold, dead wasteland, the Siberia of Dersu Uzala was one of shifting landscapes, beautiful creatures and magnificent scale.
One shot depicts a snowstorm on the tundra. Dersu and the Captain have to cut down enough reeds to build themselves a hut before the sun sets. After the structure is finally built and the heroes safely inside, the camera holds on the snowstorm. The waving white lines and swirling particles of snow are mesmerizing, and the audience wants to look away no more than the camera wants to cut.
Another shot- as perfectly balanced as you’ll find anywhere in cinema- depicts Dersu and the Captain looking out over a field of ice during the sunset. The heads of the two men are in the lower center of the frame and the horizon is in the bottom third. On the mid-right is the sun- low, orange and on the upper left is the moon- full and blue. The colors of these cosmic spheres spread out around them and mingle near the center of the frame.
Dersu Uzala is Everything that Cinema Should Be
That shot is the balance in nature that Kurosawa was talking about. If cinema can express ideas, Kurosawa has done it here. The film was beautiful, the story was compelling and the ideas were profound. If there’s more to ask from a movie, I don’t know what.
