| Taras Bulba | |
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| Directed by | Vladimir Bortko |
| Starring | Bohdan Stupka Igor Petrenko Vladimir Vdovichenkov Magdalena Mielcarz Mikhail Boyarsky Liubomiras Laucevičius |
| Cinematography | Vladimir Bortko |
| Distributed by | Central Partnership (Russia) |
| Release date(s) | April 2, 2009 |
| Running time | 127 min |
| Language | Russian |
| Budget | $15.7 million |
Taras Bulba (Russian: Тарас Бульба) is a historical drama film, based on a novel of the same title by Nikolai Gogol. The movie has been filmed on different locations in Ukraine such as Zaporizhia, Khotyn and Kamianets-Podilskyi as well as in Poland. The official release was rescheduled several times; at first for the spring of 2008 but was finally released on April 2, 2009,[1][2][3] to coincide with Gogol’s bicentennial.[4] Original manuscript first edition of 1835 was not used but the author's edition of 1842 (considered more pro-Russian[5]), expanded and rewritten (into the text most readers know), was used for the film.
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The film was partly financed by the Russian Ministry of Culture and has been criticized in Ukraine for being a part of political propaganda "resembling leaflets for Putin".[5]
While the Polish characters in the movie speak Polish, the Ukrainian Cossacks are presented as speaking only Russian.
The director Vladimir Bortko, who is himself of Ukrainian origin, has also stated that the movie aimed to show that "there is no separate Ukraine":[5]
"The Russians and Ukrainians are the same people and Ukraine is the southern part of the Rus'. They cannot exist without us and we cannot without them. Now we are two states and also in the past there were such periods. The Ukrainian soil belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and to Poland. But the people who lived on both territories were always one people. Gogol understood that well and always spoke of it."[6]
This view is strongly opposed by nationalistic Ukrainians.[7][8] In Russia there are fears that the movie will exacerbate historical disagreements with Ukraine.[6]
The film is also cautiously watched in Poland, where its possible anti-Polish character is widely discussed and its propagandist elements examined.[9] This is enhanced by the fact that the filmmakers added some scenes depicting Polish brutality to the original plot by Gogol.[10][11]