Verdict
Summary
Deaf Crocodile brings White Sun of the Desert to Blu-ray, and thank goodness they did! This is a real gem for action fans, and if you love spaghetti westerns and the two Sisu movies, check this one out! It comes in a full-frame presentation, plus some bonus features to keep you going after the movie ends.
Plot:
A solider just trying to make his way home is diverted when he is put in charge of a harem of women, who are being hunted down by their master.
Review:
Fyodor (Anatoliy Kuznetsov) is a Red Army soldier with no responsibilities left but to make his way home from the desert after the war, and he comes upon a man buried up to his neck, a deserter who has been condemned to die. Instead of just leaving him there to expire, Fyodor digs him up, feeds and waters him, and gives him his life back, making an ally of him forever. Further into the desert, they find an outpost where an evil Abdullah (played by Kakhi Kavsadze) has deserted his harem after killing two and leaving nine more to rot unattended. Fyodor and his sidekick take charge of the annoying harem, who consider Fyodor their new master, but instead of treating them like property, he gives the women their freedom, with which they have no idea what to do with, as they’ve never had it. When the Abdullah comes back to his outpost with his legion of raiders to finish the job they left undone, they go hunting for the harem, intending to kill them, but they find their task is nearly impossible now that Fyodor is protecting them at another small outpost by the sea.
A unique western-style action film that most likely inspired films such as the two Sisu movies with its sparse setting, unkillable, laconic hero, and overwhelming odds of few against many, combined with the fact that the first Sisu basically ripped this movie off with its evil Abdullah / women as property theme. Fyodor makes for a great cinematic hero, and the film is packed with interesting and believable action, plus having its desert setting making it feel epic and feral. Director Vladimir Motyl really gives this movie a feeling of vitality and masculinity that most modern movies simply don’t have, and he fills every frame with something important, never wasting a scene or a moment in its 83 minute running time.
Deaf Crocodile brings White Sun of the Desert to Blu-ray, and thank goodness they did! This is a real gem for action fans, and if you love spaghetti westerns and the two Sisu movies, check this one out! It comes in a full-frame presentation, plus some bonus features to keep you going after the movie ends.
Bonus Materials
- 1st ever U.S. Blu-ray release
- Newly restored by Mosfilm
- New audio commentary by film historian Rolf Giesen
- New essays by Russian film scholar Peter Rollberg
- New essay by film critic Walter Chaw
- New video interview with Russian expert on Red Westerns, author Sergey Lavrentyev
- New artwork by Beth Morris
- Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie with FIdelity in Motion