Taras Bulba (2009)

The film is set in the 16th century. It opens with Taras Bulba delivering a speech about comradeship to the Zaporozhian Cossacks near the walls of a Polish fortress. Taras Bulba, a Cossack colonel from Uman, meets at his homestead the sons he sent to study in Kyiv two years earlier. He looks at them anxiously, wondering whether they can become worthy defenders of their land and faith, as he is. The old ataman puts his sons to the test and, thrusting his saber into the ground, says: “Your pleasures are the open field and a good horse—that is your pleasure! And do you see this saber? This is your mother!” Bulba does not know that in Kyiv Andriy met Elżbieta, the daughter of a noble Polish szlachcic, Voivode Mazowiecki, and fell in love with her, though his feelings were not returned. Taras decides to send his sons to the Zaporozhian Sich and wants to accompany them himself. The old Cossack cannot stay peacefully at home, knowing that foreigners are abusing and humiliating his land. The pleasure-seeking atmosphere of the Zaporozhian Sich makes a great impression on Taras’s sons but disappoints the colonel: he understands that idleness and drunkenness are rotting the Cossack army, and deposes the old koshevoi ataman, who is inclined to cooperate with the enemy. Eager to fight the Turks, the Zaporozhians write a mocking, insulting letter to the Turkish sultan and elect a new ataman—Kirdyaga, Taras’s longtime comrade. But just then, tragic news arrives from Bulba’s homestead: while he was away, the Poles attacked his home and killed his wife and workers. The surviving peasants, who arrive at the Sich with Taras’s wife’s body, tell how the Poles mock Orthodox Christians everywhere, brutally kill them, and drive them into captivity. The Zaporozhian army immediately decides to fight Poland, laying siege to Dubno, a wealthy Polish city. The assault fails, however, and the Zaporozhians settle into a regular siege, ravaging the surrounding area. After some time, famine breaks out in the besieged city. A Tatar woman, servant to Elżbieta, who is weakened by hunger, comes to Andriy and begs him for bread. Andriy takes a sack of bread and makes his way into the city through a secret passage, though Taras briefly wakes and notices him. After meeting the young noblewoman, the young Cossack decides to join the Poles and spends intimate time with the voivode’s daughter. Polish forces then enter the city, having broken through the siege lines in a surprise attack and taken prisoners of war. Bulba learns of Andriy’s treachery from Yankel, a Jewish man. At the same time, the Cossacks learn that the Tatars have plundered the Sich, and divide their forces. The koshevoi ataman sets out to fight the Tatars, while Bulba stays beneath the city walls. The voivode of Dubno decides to crush the Cossacks. The Poles leave the city, and a battle begins in which many atamans are killed, including Mosiy Shilo. Taras himself rallies the Cossacks: “Is there still powder in the powder flasks? Has the Cossack strength not weakened? Are the Cossacks not bending?” After Ataman Borodaty is killed, Ostap becomes a kuren ataman. The Cossacks defeat the Polish soldiers and militia, but a unit of winged hussars led by Andriy rides out of the city. Seeing his son cutting down Cossacks, Taras orders his men to lure Andriy toward the forest. Andriy pursues one of the Zaporozhians, but in the forest he comes upon his father and cannot bring himself to raise a hand against him. Taras shoots his traitorous son with a firearm, saying, “So you would sell them? Sell your faith? Sell your own people? I brought you into the world, and I will kill you!” The Poles receive reinforcements, and the Cossack colonel rushes to help his men. In the battle, the Poles defeat the Cossacks and capture Ostap. The Cossacks carry the wounded Taras to the Sich after the Poles knock him unconscious in battle. Once recovered, Taras meets Yankel, the Jewish man he had earlier saved during a pogrom against Jews at the Sich. With Yankel’s help, he makes his way to Warsaw, where Ostap and other captured Cossacks have been taken. Taras wants to rescue Ostap, but arrives in time to witness only his terrible execution. Ostap bravely endures all the torments inflicted on him by the executioner and dies with dignity. Some time later, it becomes known that Elżbieta had become pregnant by Andriy. She gives birth to a boy and dies in childbirth. Voivode Mazowiecki raises his saber over his newborn grandson, whom he considers responsible for his daughter’s death, but cannot bring himself to kill the child. Later, Taras takes a terrible revenge on the Poles for plundering and humiliating his homeland and for his son’s death. But the Polish army, led by Hetman Potocki and vastly outnumbering Taras’s detachment, surrounds him. Taras could escape with the few surviving Cossacks, but, realizing that he is the Poles’ main target, he personally fights a last battle against the entire army, allowing his comrades to get away. In the fighting, the ataman loses his pipe and is captured by the hetman. The Cossacks cross the Dniester and watch Taras Bulba’s fate from the opposite bank. The Poles burn Taras alive at the stake, but even during this terrible execution he remains a patriot of his land and a man devoted to his faith. The film’s final scene takes place a year later, as a Zaporozhian cavalry force charges into battle.