Epic Subject Gets Epic Treatment in Mongol
In a cinematic landscape glutted with superpowered men fighting fakey battles against one another in iron suits and spandex, it’s comforting to find a movie about a simple human being who could strike all those goofballs down without a forethought.
Yes, I’m talking about Genghis Khan, the hero of Mongol.
Shot spectacularly on location in Kazakhstan and China, Mongol follows the story of Temudjin, a young slave boy who grows up to become one of the world’s great conquerors. The film gives us a harsh yet undeniably romanticized version of Temudjin’s life as he survives countless hardships before subduing the steppe under what appears to be a heavenly mandate.
Along the way, Temudjin experiences love and friendship while cultivating wisdom and vision. We are ultimately left with a well-rounded and fairly believable portrait of an extraordinary man and the environmental forces that shaped his life.
It is this latter area – the setting of Mongolia in the 1100s – that I found most compelling about this movie. The opening scenes alone — one in which young Temudjin, most likely about age 6, picks a wife from a line up of 10 year olds and vows to return to collect her years later (and does); and another in which Temudjin witnesses his father poisoned during a ritual declaration of peace with an enemy tribe — describe a fascinating culture and moment in history rarely seen on screen.
Coupled with incredible landscapes and effective if somewhat derivative battle scenes (cribbing its style from Gladiator, no doubt), Mongol is compelling for its two hour running time and left me craving two hours more.
In fact, my main grumble about the film is that it ends just when Temudjin is for all intents and purposes warming up; we never see the territorial campaign for which the great warrior is remembered. By restricting the story to Temudjin’s early life, the film neatly escapes the difficult moral issues at stake in making a movie about the exploits of a brutal conqueror (not to mention the budgetary ones). With its scenes of young lovers rolling in the grass on the picturesque steppe, sections of Mongol actually play like art house fare.
There are rumors that director Sergei Bodrov may lens a sequel, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I’m sure it was an amazing logistical challenge to depict even the early part of Genghis Khan’s life in the snow and grass, and one can only imagine what it would take to make a period film about sacking Chinese cities and beyond. Thankfully what is there already is quite impressive and well deserving of attention.
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