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Set in the 16th century, this is a story about the Cossack warriors and their campaign to defend their lands from the advancing armies.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
This film is based on the book by Nikolai Gogol, and as such has stuck to the patriotic theme that he adopted for reasons of conformity at the time. That being said I decided to judge it as a film in its' own right. It tells the story of the legendary Taras Bulba who, in the 16th Century took on the enemies of the Cossacks with his two sons.
They, his sons, were first sent to be trained by the monks and returned as men, but not Cossacks so he takes them off to the Cossack `finishing school', where he discovers that a shameful truce has been signed by the `ataman' a spiritual and de facto leader, with the Sultan (his enemy). Taras then orchestrates an embarrassing show down to get him removed and replaced by someone with more war like tendencies. Just as he has the mob whipped up into a frenzy of Islamophobia, some of his comrades turn up with news that all of his men, livestock and family have been murdered by the invading Poles, who are in collusion with the Tartars, Roman Catholics and worst of all Jews. So we have a smorgasbord of hatred and retribution brewing up. First thing is a Jewish pogrom, but Taras intervenes, and then takes them all to fight the Poles.
His youngest son has also fallen for the daughter Elizabeta, of the Tartars -she looks a bit like Britney Spears (with hair that is). She is with her father who is sheltering with the Polish garrison. What follows is a tale of Shakespearian tragedy. Taras faces one battle after another. Speaking of which, there are lots of battles and the siege scenes are excellent, with little or no CGI as far as I could tell. There is masses of gore and proper hand to hand fighting. Bogdan Stupka as Bulba is a tour de force, but director Vladimir Bortko manages to illicit strong performances from all those concernd. There is a big however, and that is when they come to some of their `am dram' deaths and start wailing on about how great Mother Russia is, before finally expiring. One would have been tolerable but after the third it gets to be a bit wearisome, and not in the slightest bit believable. That is the movies downfall it has sacrificed cod propaganda and sentimentality for even a veneer of authenticity.
It is in Russian and Polish with English sub titles, when they speak Polish it is translated verbatim into Russian! Still I did ruddy well enjoy this film and as it is over two hours long, that has done well to keep my attention, the costumes are excellent, the music is great and the cast of thousands was very much appreciated, but I have to judge on the whole package, so not quite a four star offering, but very close indeed.
They, his sons, were first sent to be trained by the monks and returned as men, but not Cossacks so he takes them off to the Cossack `finishing school', where he discovers that a shameful truce has been signed by the `ataman' a spiritual and de facto leader, with the Sultan (his enemy). Taras then orchestrates an embarrassing show down to get him removed and replaced by someone with more war like tendencies. Just as he has the mob whipped up into a frenzy of Islamophobia, some of his comrades turn up with news that all of his men, livestock and family have been murdered by the invading Poles, who are in collusion with the Tartars, Roman Catholics and worst of all Jews. So we have a smorgasbord of hatred and retribution brewing up. First thing is a Jewish pogrom, but Taras intervenes, and then takes them all to fight the Poles.
His youngest son has also fallen for the daughter Elizabeta, of the Tartars -she looks a bit like Britney Spears (with hair that is). She is with her father who is sheltering with the Polish garrison. What follows is a tale of Shakespearian tragedy. Taras faces one battle after another. Speaking of which, there are lots of battles and the siege scenes are excellent, with little or no CGI as far as I could tell. There is masses of gore and proper hand to hand fighting. Bogdan Stupka as Bulba is a tour de force, but director Vladimir Bortko manages to illicit strong performances from all those concernd. There is a big however, and that is when they come to some of their `am dram' deaths and start wailing on about how great Mother Russia is, before finally expiring. One would have been tolerable but after the third it gets to be a bit wearisome, and not in the slightest bit believable. That is the movies downfall it has sacrificed cod propaganda and sentimentality for even a veneer of authenticity.
It is in Russian and Polish with English sub titles, when they speak Polish it is translated verbatim into Russian! Still I did ruddy well enjoy this film and as it is over two hours long, that has done well to keep my attention, the costumes are excellent, the music is great and the cast of thousands was very much appreciated, but I have to judge on the whole package, so not quite a four star offering, but very close indeed.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
The five stars are for the film itself. Some reviewers have contended that it is only Russian nationalistic propaganda, but I strongly disagree. The film is a true representation of the short story by Nikolai Gogol, which is, indeed, nationalistic Russian literature at its rousing finest. Bogdan Stupka is outstanding as Taras Bulba, and the rest of the cast members are sterling, as well. I just wonder why Metrodrome Group is giving us yet another regular DVD of a film we bought a year and a half ago from Amazon as a CP Digital product. This version was titled just TARAS BULBA and had a nice image and good English sub-titles. An official blu-ray of TARAS BULBA was sold in Russia without an English translation back in 2009. Now, Entertainment One is re-releasing it in the U.S. and calling it THE CONQUEROR. Amazon France will carry a re-release of the same film called THE BARBARIAN pressed by Condor Entertainment. And, there will be a blu-ray of it (sadly, with only French and Russian options). Why only a blu-ray option for France? Hopefully, Metrodrome Group will realize how many of us have "gone blu-ray" and have multi-region HD players to boot. The damned U.S. companies are content living in the past. So, I'm sure that Entertainment One will never do it for us in the States. Please, Metrodrome, give us a blu-ray of this wonderful film. Be forward looking like Masters of Cinema and BFI, who have already left America in the dust.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
What the sleeve designer was on, heaven knows, and whoever wrote the blurb appears neither to have seen the movie nor read the Gogol novella upon which it was based. Don't let either put you off.
If you're Ukrainian (or at least, a Ukrainian who believes in the country's independence and separateness from Russia) or Polish you are very likely to be offended by the film's blatantly pro-Russian message. It's based very faithfully on Gogol's 1842, pro-Russian revision of his original 1835 work, sometimes too much so; the flowery eulogies for Cossack captains who get theirs in the final battle appear quaint on the printed page and are downright silly in the movie. Thankfully, the anti-Semitism of the original is toned down, although the cringing comedy Jew Yankel is only a marginally more positive portrayal than Fagin or Shylock.
All that aside (and for the rest of the world the politics won't matter any more than they did for 'Braveheart') this is a highly enjoyable movie, vastly superior to the ludicrous early-60s Brynner and Curtis travesty. (OK, it doesn't have the 'Ride to Dubno' sequence and the wonderful Franz Waxman score, but that's it). The battle scenes are ferocious, and thankfully free of CGI. The superb Bogdan Stupka totally dominates in the title role; his Taras is a complex, heroic yet seriously flawed character that goes way beyond Gogol's creation into Shakespearean levels of depth. How I would love to see this man play Lear! Veteran Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski does gravitas as the voyevod of Dubno, and everyone else is at least competent.
If you're Ukrainian (or at least, a Ukrainian who believes in the country's independence and separateness from Russia) or Polish you are very likely to be offended by the film's blatantly pro-Russian message. It's based very faithfully on Gogol's 1842, pro-Russian revision of his original 1835 work, sometimes too much so; the flowery eulogies for Cossack captains who get theirs in the final battle appear quaint on the printed page and are downright silly in the movie. Thankfully, the anti-Semitism of the original is toned down, although the cringing comedy Jew Yankel is only a marginally more positive portrayal than Fagin or Shylock.
All that aside (and for the rest of the world the politics won't matter any more than they did for 'Braveheart') this is a highly enjoyable movie, vastly superior to the ludicrous early-60s Brynner and Curtis travesty. (OK, it doesn't have the 'Ride to Dubno' sequence and the wonderful Franz Waxman score, but that's it). The battle scenes are ferocious, and thankfully free of CGI. The superb Bogdan Stupka totally dominates in the title role; his Taras is a complex, heroic yet seriously flawed character that goes way beyond Gogol's creation into Shakespearean levels of depth. How I would love to see this man play Lear! Veteran Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski does gravitas as the voyevod of Dubno, and everyone else is at least competent.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nice Try, but no Cigar.
It is hard not to watch this film and compare it with the Hollywood version filmed way back in 1958 with Tony Curtis as a very odd Bronx Cossack and Yul Brynner in the title role... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Bob Salter
Taras Bulba may be Russian literature but is not originally Russian
The film is a true representation of the rewritten short story that Nikolai Gogol did to impress his Russian peers and to get ahead; that's why it is full of nationalistic Russian... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Cossack
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