Taras Bulba (2009)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Vladimir Bortko

Writers:

Vladimir Bortko (writer)
Nikolai Gogol (novel)

Release Date:

2 April 2009 (Kazakhstan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Set in the 16th century, this is a story about Ukraine's Cossack warriors and their campaign to defend their lands from the advancing Polish armies. |

Plot Keywords:

Ukraine | Cossack | Father Son Relationship | Love | Poland

Cast

Vladimir Vdovichenkov	...	Ostap
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mikhail Boyarsky	...	Moisei Shilo
Vladimir Ilyin	...	Kurennoy
Boris Khmelnitsky	...	Beard
Magdalena Mielcarz	...	Elzhbeta
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Krasnevsky
Igor Petrenko	...	Andriy
Ada Rogovtseva	...	Taras Bulba's wife
Bogdan Stupka	...	Taras Bulba

Also Known As:

Тарас Бульба (Russia)

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian | Ukrainian | Polish

Color:

Color

Company:

Central Partnership

Seriously weak attempt to produce another Russian patriotic epic out of one of the most prominent pieces of Ukrainian literature

I'd like to start off with what is good in this movie, for the list will be infinitely shorter than what is bad.

Good points: 1. Bogdan Stupka ('Taras Bulba') performance. His presence in the movie is the only excuse to see the movie in the first place.

2. Attention to detail in costumes and observing cossack traditions. The movie can be a good reference for re-enactors of Zaporizka Sich and Rzech Pospolita of XVI century.

Bad points: 1. Patriotic speeches comprise over 50% of the total movie time. Every single cossack having at least one line in the movie, had to proclaim a speech about the never-ending glory of orthodox faith and Russian land before dying. I mean, it is OK once. It can be touching. However, in Taras Bulba there are 5 or 6 nearly identical speeches within 5 minutes span. Around the third speech/death sequence it gets really boring and you think 'will you please just shut up and die?' The word 'Russian' appears in every other sentence of the movie. I mean, I know those are Russians who make the movie with the aid from the government. I bet, anyone from outside USSR will return from the theater with the firm belief those were Russians fighting Poles. But hey, the entire thing actually happens in Ukraine! Yet, reference to Ukraine is carefully avoided and quickly mentioned only twice in the entire movie.

2. Battle scenes. The movie attempts at Braveheart realism with close-ups of wounds. Which would have been OK, if they haven't shown close-ups for nearly EACH SINGLE CUT AND PIERCE in the movie. Coupled with unimpressive execution of one-on-one duels and poorly organized mass scenes (you get the full screen of cossacks and Poles walking (not running!) chaotically without any apparent purpose or sense of direction, it creates seriously sad impression.

3. Performance of the younger cast. Vdovichenkov is no longer a criminal from 'the Bumer' (the BMW) but his line 'Ty chto skazal?!' (What have you just said?) was performed in the XVI century church in the same manner as previously at the criminals' meeting in 1990s. Younger son, Andriy (Petrenko) is not nearly as passionate as his father, Taras, (Bogdan Stupka). Yeah, I betray my motherland and my father, because I love you. No big deal.

4. Soundtrack is as awful as in Bortko's Master and Margarita.