Дерсу Узала (Dersu Uzalá) (A. Kurosawa, 1975) is about the life of Дерсу Узала (Dersu Uzalá) (ca. 1849-1908), a native hunter of the Taiga forest in the frontier between Russia and China.
The film is based on the book “Dersu Uzala” (1923), writed by Vladimir Klavdiyevich.
The Taiga
Дерсу Узала (Dersu Uzalá) (ca. 1849-1908) belonged to Nanai people: an indigenous minorities of the Russian Far East and Northeast China, deeply connected to the ecosystems of the Amur and Ussuri river basins.
Nanai people were animist. For them, all elements of nature have a spirit, conscience and an inner life. For them, all elements in the universe are “people”: Sun, Moon, Fire, Wind, Water…
Влади́мир Кла́вдиевич Арсе́ньев (Vladimir Klavdiyevich Arseniev) (1872-1930) was a Russian explorer of the Far East. He had a humanist sensitivity and respect for the indigenous Siberian people. He met Dersu from 1902 to 1907.
Vladimir was first to describe numerous species of Siberian flora and the lifestyles of the local ethnic groups.
Ussuri
The Hunhuzi were bandits who assault native assentments in the frontier region between Russia and China, stealing leather, raping women and killing men.
Tiger
in Хабаровск (Khabarovsk)
He also managed the Museum of Khabarovsk twice,
Around 1907, Dersu started to have problems with his eyes, so pointing with his rifle was hard. For a nomadic hunter in the siberian taiga, that meant a death sentence.
Arséniev invited him to his house in the city of Jabárovsk. However, that was shocking for Dersu, which felt deeply imprioned between walls. He didn’t understand why society banned him to cut wood in the parks, start a fire on the treet or to shoot.
In the Spring of 1908, Dersu begged Arséniev to let him go back to the forest. Arséniev agreed with sorrow and gave him as a good-bye present a modern and valuous militar rifle Mosin-Nagant.
A few days later enter the taiga, Dersu camped close to the village of Korfovski. Bandits (presumibly attracted by the rifle) assassinated him while he was sleeping to steal it.
Arséniev received the notice of a unidentified corpse of a native and came alone to identify the corpse.
Dersu was buried in an anonymous tomb in the taiga. That disappeared soon later due to the indutrial development of the region.
Vladimir wrote around of 60 books and scientific treats backed on geography, botanic, meteorology and etnography. He documented and preserved the languages, ritual and traditions of original siberian ethnics (uch a udejé and nanai) before were changed by soviet colectivizations.
Vladimir died from neumonia in Владивосток (Vladivostok) in 1930. Soon after his death, Soviet services accused Vladimir to had been an spy and saboteur in desguised for the Japanese Army.
Margarita Arsénieva, his widow, was arrested and executed in 1938.
Also available with subtitles in [Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8X1rTHeGGs), French,