Movie Review: “Mongol”
Tadanobu Asano in “Mongol.”
Rating: 81
Never assume that historical dramas must be dry and ponderous — Sergei Bodrov’s “Mongol” is a thrilling, blood-and-guts action film about the early life of Genghis Khan. Between the awe-inspiring imagery and nearly endless series of power challenges and visceral splatter, “Mongol” delivers a fascinating story of how a 13th century warlord came to be.
“Mongol” begins by introducing 9-year-old Temudgin (Odnyam Odsuren), the son of Mongol king Egusei (Ba Sen). Egusei tells Temudgin to pick a mate from a group of tribal girls, instructing him on Mongolian feminine virtues, and in a decision that would repeatedly serve him well, the lad picks Borte (Bavertsetseg Erdenebat). She proves to be a strong, decisive bride who patiently waits for Temudgin after he is abducted and spends a decade in slavery.
Temudgin (played as an adult by Tadanobu Asano) grows strong and inherits Egusei’s rule as well as his enemies — Borte (Khulan Chuluun) is kidnapped by a rival tribe, and by the time he rescues her, she is third-trimester pregnant. She becomes indispensable to Temudgin, following the man who would become Genghis Khan into battle after battle — war scenes in which bloody mist is the prevailing image.
Many filmmakers have attempted to bring the story of Genghis Khan to the screen over the years, but the results generally range from mediocre to outright horrible. The most notorious was 1956’s laughable “The Conqueror,” starring John Wayne as Temudgin/Genghis Khan and Susan Hayward as Borte, and even as late as 1965, non-Asian actors such as Omar Sharif were taking on the Khan.
In contrast, Bodrov’s film has the ring of truth. Bodrov shot “Mongol” in China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, often in the steppes surrounding the Onon River where Genghis Khan was born, and the cast is uniformly excellent. “Mongol” is designed to be the first in a trilogy, and if this first film is any indication, the next two installments, in which Genghis Khan takes over the continent, should be absolutely stunning — a film franchise for the history books.
– GL
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