--- title: "Dersu Uzala" year: 1975 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/dersu-uzala" fi1m_id: "dersu-uzala" imdb_id: "tt0071411" tmdb_id: 9764 wikidata_id: "Q948023" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-09-26T17:50:05.222054+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T17:50:06.334154+00:00" region: "DE" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dersu Uzala (1975) Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 2h 21m · FSK 6 · Adventure, Drama ## Identity Dersu Uzala - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/dersu-uzala - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** dersu-uzala - **IMDb ID:** tt0071411 - **TMDB ID:** 9764 - **Wikidata ID:** Q948023 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071411/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9764, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q948023 **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 75 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* We would trust this trapper with our lives, but not ask him to plan a holiday > Akira Kurosawa’s forest adventure is patient, tense and moving, with Maksim Munzuk making its trapper worth the company. The film admires Dersu a little too unquestioningly, but the friendship survives that excess of affection. ## Synopsis Dersu Uzala (Maksim Munzuk) is a lifelong trapper whose familiarity with the forest matters to the men around him. Among them are Arsenev (Yury Solomin) and Olenin (Aleksandr Pyatkov). In country where the cold threatens survival, Dersu’s knowledge gives his companions reason to listen. A friendship develops between him and Arsenev as they face the demands of staying alive in that landscape. Their time together brings the men’s dependence on the forest into view, along with their need for one another. ## Review Akira Kurosawa’s *Dersu Uzala* is a moving adventure about friendship and surviving the cold, weakened a little by its fondness for making the trapper a lesson to everyone else. The forest gets enough attention for the men’s need for one another to make practical sense. There is pleasure in their companionship, but danger is never far away. We recommend it, with some patience for the passages that keep admiring what we have already learned to admire. Maksim Munzuk plays Dersu Uzala, a lifelong trapper, with the assurance the film needs if its admiration is to make sense. Such a character could easily become a collection of good instincts arranged for everybody else’s benefit. The performance keeps our attention on a person even when the film seems tempted to turn him into an example. Yury Solomin’s Arsenev gives the friendship its other half, and the warmth between them makes their company worth keeping through the quieter stretches. Yuri Gantman, Fyodor Dobronravov and Asakazu Nakai share the cinematography credit, and their handling of colour and light makes the forest worth sustained attention. Its beauty never makes it look reliably welcoming. The scale matters because the people have to survive within it, and the photography keeps that difficulty before us even when there is pleasure in looking. The landscape earns its prominence by making us consider how exposed the men are. We were frightened by the struggle to survive the cold. The danger is plain enough to need little explanation, and the film gives us time to think about what enduring it would mean. Its patience pays off here: having spent so long attending to the forest, we cannot dismiss it as scenery when survival becomes difficult. The friendship is most affecting under this pressure, when another person’s knowledge and willingness to help become necessities. Valentina Stepanova’s editing allows that attention, although 141 minutes is more than the film always needs. Some stretches prolong our admiration without doing much to deepen it. Yuri Raksha’s production design stays unobtrusive beside the landscape, which suits a film so interested in what people cannot control. Isaac Schwartz’s music supports the tenderness, though the passages of danger make the stronger impression without needing to insist on our affection for Dersu. The reservation concerns the writing, credited to Yuri Nagibin and Akira Kurosawa from a novel by Vladimir Arsenyev. Respect for a man who understands the forest is easy to share; the trouble comes when his understanding begins to seem like an answer to everything. The film can make Dersu’s goodness feel settled in advance, leaving Maksim Munzuk to supply the human particularity. That limits the friendship a little, since one partner sometimes seems to be there chiefly to improve the other. Adventure films can become tiresome when every difficulty exists to prove somebody right, and this one occasionally approaches that habit. Its feeling for companionship is strong enough to keep the fault from spoiling it. There is enough danger in the forest, and enough warmth between the men, to make the slower passages worth accepting. Give it an unhurried evening; the struggle against the cold deserves more attention than a glance between conversations. *Fi1m score 82, published 26 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Dersu Uzala worth watching?** *Dersu Uzala* is worth watching for its moving friendship and tense struggle against the cold; we score it 82 out of 100. Maksim Munzuk makes the trapper absorbing company, though the film admires him too unquestioningly at times. Its 141 minutes suit an unhurried evening, especially if patient, landscape-led adventure appeals. **How long is Dersu Uzala, and what is it rated?** *Dersu Uzala* runs 2h 21m and is rated 6 by the FSK in Germany. It is an adventure and drama film. **Where can I watch Dersu Uzala in Germany?** *Dersu Uzala* is not on any streaming or rental service in Germany at the moment. It is available in 3 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How does Dersu Uzala compare to Walkabout?** *Dersu Uzala* offers warmer companionship than the more disquieting [*Walkabout*](https://film.one/film/walkabout), with both films making survival depend on knowledge the outsiders lack. We recommend *Dersu Uzala* for the friendship and *Walkabout* for a more unsettling experience. Both sometimes simplify their characters to make a point about how people live alongside the wilderness. **Is Dersu Uzala based on a true story or a book?** *Dersu Uzala* is adapted from a novel by Vladimir Arsenyev, with the screenplay credited to Yuri Nagibin and Akira Kurosawa. Knowing the book is not necessary to follow the friendship or understand the danger: the film makes the men’s dependence on Dersu’s forest knowledge clear. **What should I watch after Dersu Uzala?** After *Dersu Uzala*, try [*Walkabout*](https://film.one/film/walkabout) (1971, Fi1m 85): Survival depends on knowledge that the outsiders have never thought to acquire. Then [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero) (1983, Fi1m 86): For the landscape and unexpected companionship, with less danger and more negotiation; and [*Leave No Trace*](https://film.one/film/leave-no-trace) (2018, Fi1m 88): Forest life and human attachment, observed without making either seem simple. ### Reviews we read (5) - **The Guardian**, Philip French (90/100, inferred): Philip French praises the film as a humanist masterpiece of awe-inspiring beauty. He particularly singles out its performances and its treatment of friendship and humanity’s relationship with the environment. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2007/mar/11/features.review67) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (80/100, inferred): Variety finds the film heartwarming and uplifting. It singles out Maksim Munzuk’s commanding performance as the lifelong trapper. [Read](https://variety.com/1974/film/reviews/dersu-uzala-1200423485/) - **Slant Magazine**, Elise Nakhnikian (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film deeply absorbing despite reservations about how Dersu is portrayed. The forest landscape and the suspenseful struggle to survive its cold stand out for praise. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/a-movie-a-day-day-69-dersu-uzala/) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (69/100, inferred): The available page does not expose the critic’s verdict. Its headline identifies a Kurosawa film as a Tolstoyan parable. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/13/archives/screen-tovarich-kurosawa-tolstoyan-parable.html) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (65/100, inferred): Parkinson finds the film beautiful and moving, though less heartfelt than Kurosawa’s strongest work. He praises its use of colour, light and landscape, along with several memorable set-pieces. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dersu-uzala-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Akira Kurosawa - **Director:** Akira Kurosawa - **Screenplay:** Yuri Nagibin, Akira Kurosawa - **Novel:** Vladimir Arsenyev - **Cinematography:** Fyodor Dobronravov, Yuri Gantman, Asakazu Nakai - **Editor:** Valentina Stepanova - **Music:** Isaac Schwartz - **Production design:** Yuri Raksha - **Costume design:** Tatyana Lichmanova - **Producer:** Yōichi Matsue, Nikolai Sizov - **Cast:** Yury Solomin as Arsenev; Maksim Munzuk as Dersu Uzala; Mikhail Bychkov as Otryad Arseneva; B. Khorulev; Vladimir Kremena as Turtwigin; Aleksandr Pyatkov as Olenin; Svetlana Danilchenko as Anna; Dmitri Korshikov as Wowa son of Arsenjev - **Runtime:** 2h 21m - **Certificate (FSK):** 6 - **Release (Germany):** 29 October 1976 - **Genres:** Adventure, Drama - **Budget:** $4 million ## Where to watch in Germany Not streaming, renting or buying in Germany at the last check. Also available in: ES, GB, IT. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1976: Best International Feature Film (won) - International Submission to the Academy Awards 1976: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated) ## If you liked this - *The Naked Island* (1960): Another patient account of survival, with physical labour given its proper weight. - *Walkabout* (1971), Fi1m 85: Survival depends on knowledge that the outsiders have never thought to acquire. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/walkabout.md) - *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86: For the landscape and unexpected companionship, with less danger and more negotiation. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) - *Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner* (2001): Cold, endurance and community become the substance of an absorbing adventure. - *Leave No Trace* (2018), Fi1m 88: Forest life and human attachment, observed without making either seem simple. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/leave-no-trace.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/dersu-uzala