Ah, I thought that to be a case of Dersu not being a native Russian speaker, and trying to express his thoughts with a somewhat limited vocabulary. If I remember correctly, he uses the word человек , which translates as "a human", but also "a person", and "a dude" (heppu in Finnish) or "bro" (veikko). Hmm, I don't know if that really changes anything, for all in all it sounds like Dersu doesn't see a human being in any way being superior or detached from the rest of nature, but sees the other beings as equal worth, fellows with their own desires and emotions.

--- SPOILER ALERT ---

What I've been wondering - and I hope to read the book one day, maybe it sheds more light into these details;

In the very early stage, when Dersu's character gets introduced, we see him bothered or maybe even annoyed because of the campfire making constant cracking noises. Dersu takes a stick away from the fire and extinguishes it by giving it a beating, addressing the stick: "Now, will you make more noises?" - this, at the same time, displays the depth of Dersu's animism, but also raises some questions about when to treat everything with respect, and when it is okay to impose ones own will on other living beings. (Later on Dersu says that it gets very bad when wind and fire are angry. I take this to mean that in Dersu's world semi-brutally extinguishing a burning stick doesn't run the risk of angering the spirits of fire)

On a similar note, Dersu seems to be perfectly fine with hunting animals for food, and also hunting animals for furs to get extra money. But Dersu condemns unnecessary killing of animals of prey, saying that people should disarm their traps when they don't need them anymore. Still, it feels like the Tiger has a special status - or, I wonder if there is anything like a subtle hierarchy hidden in Dersu's worldview, that there are "lesser" beings and "higher" beings. But Dersu also mentions there being a more general God-like Spirit of the Forest, so maybe it is that The Tiger holds a special meaning or connection with the main Spirit of the Forest, so harming a tiger means angering the Forest Spirit?

(Finally, a bit of sidetracking: Dersu appears to have strong conflicting feelings when he asks for bullets, so that he can go hunting for fur animals. When seeing the movie I interpreted that as him feeling "greedy, bad person" who is "asking too much" - but now as I write this comment, I wonder if Dersu is more bothered with his own plan to go killing animals not for food but for (luxury) extra money. Hmm...)

All in all - great movie, yes!