This rather unconventional Western movie is set in the middle of the 19th century in Arizona. The film portrays an Indian tribe, the Mimbreno Appacheans, who are celebrating their Thanksgiving, building an irrigation plant, carrying on commerce, and trying to settle down in a rather constricted territory. But the confrontation with the white Americans changes their situation as the mercantile "gentlemen" want to prevent the Indian tribe to become independent from the white men′s business practices. Thus, they destroy the irrigation plant and chase the Indian tribe in an inhospitable territory where they cannot survive. Led by their chief Ulzana, the Appacheans thus start a bitter fight to preserve their habitat.
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Reviews
Excellent but underrated film
A Masterpiece!
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
"Ulzana" is an East German western film from over 40 years ago that was written and directed by Gottfried Kolditz, one of the country's most famous filmmakers. He got help on the script by his lead actor Gojko Mitic here and Mitic was basically known as the GDR version of Winnetou back then. This movie is already over 40 years old and certainly very different compared to what the United States came up with in western films back then, but this does not mean necessarily that it is inferior to most of them. And I personally believe it is better than Winnetou having seen some of the FRG's films from back then. Pierre Brice just wasn't a bad actor and the lack of shades made these occasionally painful to watch. I also think in terms of pure western action, this one has more to offer and it's surprisingly graphic and in your face with the violence and shooting scenes. I believe this is a good thing. And I also believe you should watch "Apaches" first, the prequel to this 90-minute film here, also starring Gojko Mitic as the title character Ulzana. If you like that one, then you will probably enjoy this one too. The villains are interesting, the good guys are fun to watch as well. I would not call any of these two films a really great viewing experience, but they sure had their moments and overall I believe the good outweighs the bad and that's all I could ask for. Thumbs up, definitely one of the better films the GDR has come up with.
Loosely based on historical events and following the previous movie "Apachen", "Ulzana" stars Gojko Mitic again as the chief of the Mimbrero tribe. They have peacefully settled in Arizona, where they manage to make such a good harvest they can start selling fruit. This is a thorn in the side of local merchants who quickly find a corrupt army officer named Burton to start some trouble, causing the native Americans to leave their reservation. Burton keeps an eye on Ulzana's beautiful Mexican wife Leona (Renate Blume) to make things more complicated. Yes, you guess right: Ulzana doesn't find that funny ;-). Shot in Uzbekistan (!), this is a western produced 1973 by the DEFA which had gained several years of experience with westerns by then. And it shows. "Ulzana" is a real joy with all ingredients for 90 entertaining minutes. I'd like to recommend it also to those among you who know the kind of westerns shot in Spain, but haven't checked out East German productions before.
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