Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

hte-trasme I've seen three other films by Vladimir Bortko -- adaptations on "Heart of a Dog" and "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov and "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky. These were works that were close to my heart, and I thought Borko did a fantastic and mindful job of recreating them for the screen. Here he seems to have been given a much bigger budget, possibly a set of orders from the Russian government, and the short novel "Taras Bulba" by Gogol -- a piece of literature that didn't resonate with me nearly as much as the three aforementioned ones. While I loved some of Gogol's other stories, "Taras Bulba" struck me as mostly overblown, thoughtless nationalism, which didn't sit well with me. I didn't much care for this film either, so to be perfectly fair that could be because Bortko faithfully reproduced a book that I didn't love in the first place. Everything revolves around the inclusion of battle scenes and dead-serious scenes about going to battle, and it is assumed without saying that of course we will be rooting for the Cossack's over the Poles. Maybe we will be and maybe we won't, but using that as an assumption to make the film work means it's rooted in pure nationalism and nothing more. If that's alright with you, then fine, but it's not a substantive ideology. Even if we take it as given, there are few too many scenes of dying people who use their last breath to give a heartfelt speech about how the Cossack soul will never be vanquished. There are plenty of enormous pitched battle scenes with many very bloody wounds shown. The visual work on this is impressive, but it seems empty without a fuller context. The events of the plot seem entirely constructed to allow for more speeches about Cossack national spirit to be worked in, and as such are spread pretty thin. The result is that odd duck -- an action packed movie that is actually rather slow-moving. The up side is that there are some very good performances, especially from Bogdan Stupka and Igor Petrenko. They understand the material give performances that are as warlike and humorless as possible. I'm not an expert in the era of history on which Gogol based the source novel for this film, so I can't really address what has been brought up many times here -- the potential incongruity of the Cossacks mentioning Russia in their speeches and speaking Russian (as opposed to other characters, who speak Ukrainian with voice overs). But I think there is more nationalism than just Gogol's at work here, on the whole. A lot of technical skill and passionate acting went into this. Unfortunately, it's a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing but blind patriotism. That might make it a good watch for if you're about to go and kill some Polish people with your trusty sword today and need inspiration, but it doesn't make it a good film.

mihai_bogdan666 this is a good and hard movie for humans who know Russian history.5.5 is the IQ of the stupid who don't know noting.you must read to know something .if this movie is made by Americans his note will be 10,but is not,is made by Russian.i read the novel and all Russian history and this movie is an great example for the MAN who don't know nothing.the main character is the example of old school hero and patriot not some pussy whit a gun,a father and men .the Russian history is made whit blood and steal not oil wars.my apologize if i was to rude but not all the great movies are made by Americans.i am from Romania and we to make great movie like:MICHAEL THE BRAVE,VLAD THE IMPAILER,MIRCEA,OSANDA

Tony Heck "May they all know what brotherhood means on Russian soil." The true account of Taras Bulba (Stupka), a Ukraine Cossack who helped to defend his homeland from the Poles in the 16th century. This is one of the best foreign movies that I have seen. The movie opens with a "Braveheart" like speech, then we flash back to what got him in that position. The movie then begins to take shape and tries to cover every conceivable aspect it can. Love story, fighting, father/son tension, and the quest for freedom. Much like as in "Saving Private Ryan" the movie is bookended by very intense fighting scenes. This is another movie that is not meant for queasy viewers. The torture scene toward the end makes the "Braveheart" one seem tame. There is so much in this movie and I could go on and on about the aspects of why I liked it, but it's best to just watch it and see for yourself. Very, very well done. Overall, a fantastic foreign movie that has some of the most intense battle scenes I have seen in a long time. I give it an A-.Would I watch again? - I might, but not for awhile.*Also try - Agora & Braveheart

Ivan Denisoff "Do we have powder still in our flasks?" asks Taras his comrades during a violent battle. It is quite often that this very question is attributed to contemporary Russian movie makers meaning whether they are still able to create genuine works of art. And for me this movie gives an affirmative answer, at least in relation of Vladimir Bortko. I watched this film yesterday and I am still impressed with it. I enjoyed how actors played though sure Bogdan Stupka makes an absolutely outstanding performance, but the whole actors' ensemble is very well doing. Also I found cinematography very interesting. And sure Bortko deserves praise for his solid work which reminded me about those soviet times when such masters as Gerasimov or Romm created their epics.This movie is about tremendously difficult choice between different values, between devotion to motherland (fatherland) and love for a woman, between traditional values of Russian people and values of west though in this movie we see how allegedly enlightened polish gentry (regarding itself as beings of higher order than cossacks ) executes cossacks in the most cruel way.Though I have to honestly admit that I don't know how fully this movie renders Nicolai Gogol' story. Anyway I found the movie very interesting by itself not even in relation to the original source.