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Taras Bulba (2009 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Taras Bulba' is a historical drama film, based on the novel 'Taras Bulba' by Nikolai Gogol. The movie was filmed on different locations in Ukraine such as Zaporizhia, Khotyn and Kamianets-Podilsky 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,[http://www.day.kiev.ua/201827/ Coffee and conversation with Bohdan Stupka, THE DAY WEEKLY DIGEST, #17, Tuesday, 27 May 2008][http://www.film.ru/afisha/movie.asp?code=TARBULBA www.film.ru] to coincide with Gogol's bicentennial.[http://globalcomment.com/2009/the-politics-of-taras-bulba-do-they-matter/ The Politics of Taras Bulba: Do They Matter?] Global Comment The author's edition of 1842, expanded and rewritten, and considered more pro-Russian, was used for the film (this also being the text that is familiar to most readers).
The film DVD was released in the United States under the alternate title 'The Conqueror' in 2010,[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-Blood-Legend-Taras-Bulba/dp/B00505W8SW Link] and in the UK in 2011 as 'Iron & Blood: The Legend of Taras Bulba'.
Cast
* Bohdan Stupka as Taras Bulba
* Igor Petrenko as Andriy Bulba
* Vladimir Vdovichenkov as Ostap Bulba
* Magdalena Mielcarz as Panna Elzhbeta
* Mikhail Boyarsky as Cossack Moisei Shilo
* Vladimir Ilyin as former ataman
* Yury Belyayev as Kirdyaga, ataman
* Ada Rogovtseva as Taras Bulba's wife
* Boris Khmelnitsky as Beard
* Daniel Olbrychski as Krasnevsky
* Sergey Bezrukov as Narrator
* Liubomiras Lauceviius as Polish Duke
* Pyotr Zaychenko as Metelitsa
* Les Serdyuk as Dmytro
* Aleksandr Dedyushko as Stepan Guska
* Ivan I. Krasko as Kasyan Bovdyug
* Sergey Dreyden as Yankel
Controversies
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".
The director Vladimir Bortko has also stated that the movie aimed to show that "there is no separate Ukraine":
This view is strongly opposed by nationalistic Ukrainians.[https://books.google.com/books?id=0IMaWuaYRnQC&pg=PA22&dq=nationalist+Ukrainians+%22Rus%22&hl=nl&ei=73LJTa-gMoXoOeeh-dUH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false Economic Interdependence in Ukrainian-Russian Relations] by Paul J. D'Anieri, State University of New York Press, 1999, (page 22)[https://books.google.com/books?id=KhpbFI_O63cC&pg=PA257&dq=Ukrainian+feelings+Russians&hl=nl&ei=q2_JTa7gNsjoOZ-mwcoH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CGUQ6AEwBzgU#v=onepage&q=Ukrainian%20feelings%20Russians&f=false Russia in the Modern World:A New Geography] by Denis J. B. Shaw, Wiley-Blackwell, 1999, (page 257) In Russia there were fears that the movie would exacerbate historical disagreements with Ukraine. On April 7, 2022, in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the film was re-released to Russian cinemas.
The film was also cautiously watched in Poland, where its possible anti-Polish character was widely discussed and its propagandist elements examined. [http://esensja.pl/film/recenzje/tekst.html?id=7363&strona=1 Dokd tak pdzisz, Kozacze?] Sebastian Chosiski, Esensja 26 IV 2009 This was enhanced by the fact that the filmmakers added some scenes depicting Polish brutality to the original plot by Gogol. [http://www.irekw.internetdsl.pl/news/upload/fullnews.php?id=8744 Taras Bulba" w reyserii Wadimira Bortko kolejnym filmem antypolskim?] Polish Portal on Ukraine, 2009-04-01[http://www.rp.pl/artykul/11,284340_Taras_Bulba_wjezdza_do_kin.html Taras Bulba wjeda do kin] Justyna Prus, Tatiana Serwetnyk, Rzeczpospolita 31-03-2009 The cover of the US DVD edition (titled 'The Conqueror') has the tagline "Between Fire and the Sword Lies a Hero", a possible underhand reference to Polish historical fiction book and film 'With Fire and Sword' (Polish: Ogniem i mieczem).Cover on Amazon.com
References
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