Mongol
Released: September 2007
Runtime: 126 minutes
Rated: R (violence)
Mongol,
one of the Oscar nominated Best Foreign Language films in 2008, is something of
a cross between Gladiator and 300 but with a historical lesson as we learn about
the life of the legendary Genghis Khan and his rise to power.
Filmed on location in China where Genghis Khan lived, ruled
and killed, this is a subtitled film with the cast speaking in Mongolian.
Odnyam Odsuren plays the young Temudgin in Mongol
Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov uses the exotic backgrounds of
China to great effect and indeed it is these landscapes that make the film a
must-see in the theatre. Because of the film’s eye-candy Bodrov (who is also
co-credited with writing) can be forgiven somewhat for some of its
repetitiveness which makes it a tad long.
Supposedly based on “leading scholarly accounts”,
Mongol tells
the story of the rise of the Mongol people’s most famous leader, Genghis Khan
(Tadanobu Asano), born Temudgin in 1162. After his father, the reigning Khan,
is killed, Temudgin begins his long quest for revenge and many battles to take
his rightful place as leader of the Mongols.
Along the way Temudgin falls in love, loses his love, regains
his love and then ultimately leaves his love once again as he rides off to fight
yet another battle.
Unfortunately for the audience there is not much emotional
connection with the characters. Director Bodrov seems more concerned with
providing information than allowing the audience to connect with the people..
And this is a real shame because a good movie could have been a great movie had
Bodrov allowed more exploration of the character’s relationships to one
another.
A case in point is Temudgin’s rescue of his wife Borte (Khulan
Chuluun) from the rival Merkit clan. Here the audience just doesn’t connect
with Temudgin’s love for his wife and what drives him to ultimately declare war
over a woman. We are told very clearly that going to war over a woman is not
the Mongol way but we are never left with the feeling that Temudgin’s break with
tradition is an emotional one but comes across more as a necessary one which
fits with our pre-conceived notions of the brutality of Genghis Khan.
It is a shame Director Bodrov wasn’t a bit more judicious in
his final editing of the film as well. Do we really need two almost identical
scenes of Temudgin’s capture back-to-back? Perhaps Bodrov felt to create an
“epic” it must have a certain running length.
The various battle sequences throughout
Mongol
are indeed impressive although one cannot help but think we’ve seen it all
before from the massive digital armies (Gladiator) to the slow-motion
blood-letting (300), the filmmakers only manage to entertain us with some great
action scenes but don’t push the envelope here.
Where the envelope is pushed though is the cinematography. By
filming on location Bodrov has provided the very real landscape of the Mongol
people with its harsh environments and rather bleak existence.
Mongol is
one of those films that deserves to be seen on the big screen because it is shot
so beautifully and for its historical lesson.
