Mongol - 15 November 2009

Principal cast: Tadanobu Asano, Sun Honglei, Khulan Chuluun, Odnyam Odsuren

Film notes: Proudly made in the grand tradition of epic cinema, Mongol relates the early years of "Chinggis Khan". The saga begins in 1172, with the wilful but weak boy-lord, Temüdgin, then tracks his fortunes up to the moment, in 1206, where the warrior-man has unified the Mongols and is poised to conquer all around him. The film takes Temüdgin through tribal disputes, rivalries, periods of captivity, and his singular endeavour to wed and stay wedded to the mate of his heart, Börte, when custom puts women below horses. Director Sergei Bodrov (East-West) performs a feat of historical imagination to create a plausible (if glorifying) biography of the "Universal Ruler" before he was powerful. A folkloric imagination of the hero, and a rich European tradition of ethnographic film colour the historical portrait. Bodrov's melding of these three types of portraiture is subtle and compelling. In giving us the much-beset Temüdgin, instead of a ready-made Genghis Khan, the film offers an account of greatness where childish wifulness enters a crucible of hardship and emerges as a winning amalgam of loyalty, determination, and courage. Here, the conquerer-to-be is a devout visionary motivated by justice and the desire for a wife who will match his spirit. His willingness to swing a well-honed sword helps.

Masterful cinematography serves with equal grandeur the pastoral backdrop, the battle scenes, and the romance of Temüdgin and Börte, with only a little blood-spattering help from CGI. "With its brilliant blend of intimate love-story, historical fiction, epic battles and glorious scenery, this is a film to teach Hollywood how to really make a blockbuster" (Sharon Hurst, Cinephilia).