Dauria (film)

Dauria is a Soviet 1971 historical action/drama set in Siberia, Russia. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Konstantin Sedykh and directed by Viktor Tregubovich.

While the movie was criticized by some Soviet critics for its historical inaccuracies, its epic scope and intense battle scenes won wide praise and has been credited with affecting the political landscape of Siberian Russia.

Plot summary

Epic film about traditional life of Cossacks in the Siberian province of Dauria at the time of the communist revolution. Focused on a Cossack village that is living like one big family under the guidance of a strong leader - Ataman (Kopelyan).

Young Cossack Roman Ulybin (V. Solomin) is in love with beautiful Dashutka (Golovina). Roman is asking his father, Severian Ulybin (Shelokhonov), to send a Matchmaker before it's too late. But a wealthy crook has already hired the Matchmaker, and his son gets married at the lavish traditional wedding with singing, dancing and drinking in the Russian style.

So, frustrated Roman Ulybin leaves his father's home to follow his big brother Vasili, a Communist leader who promises happiness after the revolution. But, after the revolution, people suffer a cascade of troubles. Good old traditional life is destroyed by chaos, lawlesness and crime. Greed and envy blinds many people, and they forget their good traditions and life as good neighbors. Cossack leader Ataman is brutally beaten and humiliated. Roman's father, Severian, is murdered in a wrongful dispute, and Roman is too late to reconcile with his father.

Main cast

• Vitali Solomin as Roman Ulybin. The son of Severian.
• Petr Shelokhonov as Severian Ulybin. The father of Roman.
• Yefim Kopelyan as Ataman Kargin, the leader of Cossacks.
• Vasily Shukshin as Vasili Ulybin, the leader of Communists.
• Yury Solomin as Semen, a Communist agent.
• Mikhail Kokshenov as Fedot, the neighbor of Ulybins.
• Arkadi Trusov as Grandfather Ulybin.
• Vera Kuznetsova as Ulybina. The wife of Severian.
• Viktor Pavlov as Nikifor, a hard core Cossack.
• Svetlana Golovina as Dashutka, the love interest of Roman Ulybin.
• Zhenya Malyantsev as Roman's little brother.
• Fyodor Odinokov as Dashutka's father.
• Lyubov Malinovskaya as Dashutka's mother.
• Yuri Nazarov as a runaway prisoner.
• Vsevolod Kuznetsov as Cossack Platon Volokitin.
• Lidiya Feoseeva-Shukshina as Matchmaker.
• Zinovi Gerdt as Tsarist General Semenov.
• Georgi Shtil as Anarchist Revolutionary.
• Igor Yefimov as Cossack.
• Dmitri Masanov as Cossack.
• Vladimir Losev as Cossack.
• Sergei Polezhaev as White Russian officer.
• Aleksandr Demyanenko as Executioner.
• Igor Dmitriev as Executioner.

Crew

• Director: Viktor Tregubovich
• Writers: Konstantin Sedykh, Yuri Klepikov, Viktor Tregubovich
• Cinematographer: Yevgeny Mezentsev
• Composer: Gennady Portnov
• Production Designer: Grachya Mekinyan

Production

• Produced by Lenfilm studios.
• Filming dates 1969-1971.
• Filming locations: Siberia, Trans-Baikal region, Narva, Estonia, Lenfilm studios, Leningrad, Russia.
• Over 5 hundred extras took part in filming.
• Leading actors took horseback riding classes for several months before and during filming.
• A unique stunt was performed for the character of Severian Ulybin: live horse with a mannequin in a Cossack costume jumped down from 70-meters-high cliff into the cold river.

Release

• 1971 theatrical release, Soviet Union
• 1975 theatrical release in Finland and other European nations
• 1985 VHS release, Soviet Union
• 2002 DVD release, worldwide

Reception

• Attendance: 47 million, theatrical, in the Soviet Union.

DVD release

• 2002 DVD released by RUSCICO. It is based on the shorter 182 minute version, which was edited for European release in 1975. Dubbing for DVD in three languages was made by professional actors in English, French, and Russian. Subtitles in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, English, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.
• Defects on DVD include errors in sequence of scenes and wrong listing of scenes in the DVD cover booklet. There are some mistakes and discrepancies between English and Russian versions of the DVD.

External links

• Dauria at the Internet Movie Database