A Soviet version that few have seen was filmed in 1961, but the 1975 edition had a major advantage over its predecessor: Akira Kurosawa. Although now regarded as perhaps the greatest director ever, the career of Kurosawa was then at a low. His previous film, Dodes-Kaden (1970), was a commercial flop. Projects became hard to come by for Kurosawa, and a suicide attempt gained only sympathy. It must have been great news for Kurosawa to learn that the Russians wanted him to direct a wilderness epic.
The story begins with Arsenyev (Yuri Solomin) leading a small team of soldiers through a remote Russian forest. The group encounters Dersu (Maksim Munzuk), who has hunted alone since a Smallpox epidemic killed the rest of his family. Dersu is eccentric, short, ethnic, and middle-aged, but Arsenyev immediately recognizes Dersu's value to his company. He knows the forest: its topography, climate, wildlife, and the language and cultures of its sparse population.
Arsenyev bonds closely with the superstitious but wise hunter, who saves his life on at least two occasions. But the time comes when the eyesight of the aging Dersu begins failing, and he is no longer confident of his abilities in the wilderness.
Arsenyev has a solution: he asks Dersu to move in with his family, which also consists of his wife (Svetlana Danilchenko) and their pre-teenage son Wowa (Dmitri Korshikov). But although Dersu promptly bonds with Wowa, he adapts poorly to his sedentary city life, and longs to return to the forest.
How others will see it. There is no such thing as an average Kurosawa movie. Many if not most of his films are excellent, and not surprisingly, there is a core of cinephiles that treasure them. The Seven Samurai is unquestionably his most popular film, but even his obscure efforts have a following.
Dersu Uzala has a very high imdb.com user rating of 8.0/10, although a significant gender gap exists (8.2 from men versus 5.6 from women). Presumably, this is due to a near absence of female roles and a total absence of romance. Like another Japanese director of his day, Yasujirô Ozu, Kurosawa eschewed close-ups, which are expected by Western audiences.
Contemporary audiences also favored Dersu Uzala. The film did well in America in the art house circuit, particularly for a Soviet release. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also a hit in the Soviet Union, where, per wikipedia, it sold 20 million tickets.
How I felt about it. I liked it. I have few complaints. We don't get to know any of the other Russian soldiers aside from Arsenyev. Arsenyev's significance as an author of scientific journals is barely hinted at. And the film ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, much like most of our own lives.
Understandably, the Soviet government that presumably bankrolled this film ignore the ultimate fate of Arsenyev's widow. She was executed by the Stalinist government in 1938 following a hasty trial, one of millions of victims of Stalin's totalitarian paranoia.