Shot almost entirely outdoors in the Russian Far East wilderness, the film explores the theme of a native of the forests who is fully integrated into his environment, leading a style of life that will inevitably be destroyed by the advance of civilization.

It is also about the growth of respect and deep friendship between two men of profoundly different backgrounds, and about the difficulty of coping with the loss of capability that comes with old age.

In the early 1900s, Captain Arsenyev embarks on a topographic surveying expedition in the Shkotovo region of the Ussuri territory.

During the journey, he encounters Dersu Uzala, a nomadic Goldi hunter who impresses him with his exceptional wilderness skills.

The party faces numerous hardships, including fatigue and starvation, but Dersu’s wisdom and skills help them survive.

During the journey, Arsenyev and Dersu face a perilous situation when they become stranded on a raft heading toward treacherous rapids.

In an interview conducted for the 1999 RUSCICO DVD release, co-star Solomin stated that Kurosawa had long known of Arsenyev's book and had planned to make a film version very early in his career in the late 1930s, but had dropped the project after realising that it had to be made in the taiga region where the events had actually taken place.

[3] In 1971, Kurosawa attempted suicide during a difficult period in his career, questioning his creative ability after the commercial failure of Dodes'ka-den the year before and the subsequent denial of funds for his productions by Japanese studios.

[4] In 1972, Dodes'ka-den producer Yoichi Matsue and his assistant Teruyo Nogami were approached by the Soviet studio Mosfilm for an adaptation of the Russian memoir Dersu Uzala to be directed by Kurosawa.

Mosfilm, like Japan's Toho studio that Kurosawa usually worked with, found it impossible to keep the perfectionist director to a tight budget and schedule.