Mongol

[Shale]

Mongol
Review by Shale
June 28, 2008

I've been waiting for this movie since the beginning of June when it was being advertised. I am always up for an epic, costume, period piece, and what better subject than Genghis Kahn, the Mongolian who conquered nearly as much of the planet as Alexander the Great.

This was a Russian made movie, directed by Sergei Bodrov, who did research the somewhat sketchy history of Genghis Kahn. So, we get a "coulda happened" story that is at least possible if not exact. This movie is the first of three and covers the early life of Temudgin, before he unified the warring Mongol tribes under one command and before he was known as Genghis Kahn. It was filmed in Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan and has an all Asian cast. The language is Mongolian with English subtitles (except for the Russian version, I suppose).

Temudgin at age 9 is in a small tribe of Mongols and his father, the Khan is going to a strong tribe to let him pick his bride. This shows the life of nomadic bands of feudal Mongols and I was reminded of gangs, whether headed by Dons or Kahns who vie for more power thru alliances, turf warfare and conquests.

Temudgin did find a wife, a precocious rebel of a girl who told him he should pick her. He followed her counsel and they formed a partnership thru much of the hardship that befell them.

Kid Temudgin meets Wife Borte
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/Shale_photos/MongolTemudginBorte-reduce.jpg

From this happy beginning things get ugly for young Temudgin. His father dies and a rival assumes the role of Khan and would have killed Temudgin except Mongols are not allowed to kill children. The plan is to wait until he gets big enough then kill him.

Kid Temudgin too short to kill
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/Shale_photos/MongolkidTemudgintooshortreduce.jpg

Well, Temudgin escapes (He had to, Europe hadn't been invaded yet) and finds his way to the sacred hills where the spirits free him from his yoke and protect him. This was one of the few gaps in this movie that are given over to mysticism to get us to the inevitable point that Genghis Kahn did survive these dangerous times. Still wandering as a child he is found by another tribe and becomes blood brother with Jamukha.

Temudgin (Asano Tadanobu), now grown finds his betrothed Borte (Khulan Chuluun) who still wants to be his wife and he returns with her to his exiled mother. The two were not to be united for long.

Temudgin-Borte rare moment together
http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1174817/photo_04_hires.jpg

In fact most of their marriage consisted of one assault after another. History tells how he was attacked again, his wife was kidnapped, he fell out with his blood brother Jamukha (Honglei Sun), was sold into slavery, escaped and still managed to prevail and raise an army.

As expected, there are battle scenes in this movie and the blood squirts are quite graphic (hence the R-rating).

Cast of Thousands
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/Shale_photos/Mongolcastofthousandreduce.jpg

I thought the movie was well made, with beautiful scenery, costuming and camera work. It conveyed a sense of another culture with which you find yourself identifying. I enjoyed it, but I also enjoyed The Fast Runner - Atanarjuat in 2002, a three-hour movie about an ancient Inuit legend in the Inuktitut language with subtitles. So be warned by that my tolerance for foreign film.

I will give this a 2 DVD rating as I intend to see it again, but in actuality I may get the inevitable box set.

Shale's movie rating scale:
0 DVD No I would not waste my money or time seeing this movie again.
1 DVD I would get this DVD for $5 or $7
2 DVD I would get this DVD for $10
3 DVD I would get this DVD for $15
4 DVD I would get this DVD for $25 as soon as it was released.

[Le_Big_Mac]

6/10

The film starts off very well, the action scenes are superb, it vividly provides a window into another culture and it generally looks great. It's in the plot that the movie fails. The film feels rushed and important plot developments are not shown or not given enough explanation. The viewer is simply left confused.

[Moviefan1234]

MONGOL looks excellent, I can't wait to see it.

[Shale]

6/10
...It's in the plot that the movie fails. The film feels rushed and important plot developments are not shown or not given enough explanation. The viewer is simply left confused.

Yeah, I noticed that and alluded to the mystical element. I've read some background about the mysticism in that culture (The director contgacted shamans and gave prayers to the local dieties on the shoot).

There are also many gaps in the actual events of Temudgin's life so the story had to make it up - hence, can't go wrong by saying the spirits did this or that. But, yeah, it did jump and we had to just keep up. Don't know how it could have been done better tho.

[DaMovieMan]

Saw it, loved it. The pacing was a bit off as there were moments when the story seemed to skip forward without much explanation in between (it's all solvable afterward but the fact that you have to solve it is a bit off-putting). This lead to it going a bit too fast in the story-line for my liking. A film like this could of easily gained more points if it were half an hour longer than the tight 2 hour running time.
Apart from that though, it was a visual feast for the eyes, the acting was top notch, the story was very interesting and it serves as an excellent introduction to the character of Temudgin, Genghis Kahn. I heard critics bash the film because it portrays an unrealistically soft and generous Genghis Kahn to the blood-sprayer some think he was but i found the film showed that there is a beast lurking inside that facade (the beginning quote sums it up and sets up that motif nicely) and that he is merciless when he has to be but that he's simply a man of rules and principles.
As a great fan of historical films i recommend this first installment wholeheartedly. I can even overlook the digital filmmaking that seemed unsavory during some of the battle sequences just because the story especially with the two principal relationships Temudgin has with his wife and with his blood-brother is so captivating and rich.

8/10

Can't wait for the second installment.

[corran horn]

Much like DMM, I love historical films, particularly big historical epics like this. The last time I saw battles that were this impressive on the big screen, I was watching Return of the King back in January 2004. For the longest time, I feared these kinds of films were dead. The lead actor and the guy who played his blood brother were the most impressive, and I could see the two of them getting more attention because of this film.

Overall, an excellent start to what I hope will be an amazing trilogy.

8/10

BTW: there are two more historical epics waiting in the wings this fall. Ed Zwick's DEFIANCE and Baz Luhrmann's AUSTRALIA. Can't wait for either.

[CreeperBEATNGU]

Very good film, completely blows away Kingdom of Heaven and feels far from generic compared to the rest of the ancient historical epics; the battles were phenominal and I was invested in the romantic relationship.

[joeyatog]

I can't wait to see this film! I haven't been able to get to the indy theatre in town but will definitely catch it on BluRay. I believe it's been announced for home video release in September!