Mini Foreign Movie Review: "Mongol"

Temujin prepares to unleash some 12th-century wrath of Khan

I'm trying something new here on the blog -- inserting a category just for foreign films in my film-centered posts. This is the inaugural entry. I've spent a lot of time enjoying and sharing American movies on this blog this summer; let's broaden our horizons a little and try some foreign flicks too, shall we?

Last night the Cine-Sib (who is here for a visit, hooray!) and I went to a screening of the well-reviewed film "Mongol" by Russian director Sergei Bodrov (nominated for the foreign film Oscar, winner of numerous other film prizes, and rated 88% at Rotten Tomatoes). It was an interesting and beautiful attempt to portray Genghis Khan before he was Genghis Khan -- when he was first a child and then the nobody named Temujin.

Nerd Note: A long, looooooong time ago, I had to write a paper on the early years of Genghis for a seminar in Chinese history, so I was happy to see a film on the subject -- if only because it brought a little cinematic flair and color to the evil memories of haunting the library.

Geek Note: Yes, Trek fans, the Cine-Sib could not resist yelling "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!"

I'm a hurry today, so here are a few scattered thoughts and a tiny review of "Mongol" in haiku -- an idea I have shamelessly lifted from better haiku poets than I, the Cine-Sib and Christian Toto.

• Cine-Sib and I both thought the movie was often slow and plodding; at one point I had to elbow him to wake him up (!). The total run time is 126 minutes, but sometimes it felt very long.
  
• There weren't as many battle scenes as I thought there would be, though the film is still ared R for bloody violence and the final action sequence is eye-poppingly fantastic. The Cine-Sib commented approvingly it's the equal of battle scenes in "Braveheart."
  
• Lead actor Tadanobu Asano (he is Japanese) does a great job embodying Temujin. Same for the Chinese actor Honglei Sun, who plays the warlord Jamukha.
• Gorgeous sweeping panoramas of the steppes and mountains of central Asia make up a sustained pattern of excellent cinematography. The landscapes are one of the best features of the film, capturing some small hint of the harsh life of Mongolian nomadic tribes. (Plus I had a chance to explain to the Sibling what a yurt is!)
  
• Production values are sky-high, and the film is polished, detailed, and very evocative.
• This is a huge international effort, including the Russian director, Chinese and Japanese actors, locations in Kazakhstan, and the use of the Mongolian language throughout the film (yes, there are English subtitles). There's a smile-inducing bit in the film when Temujin cheerfully tells his son that everyone should learn Mongolian because it's such a beautiful language; it seems like a self-referential moment too. I admit I'd never really heard much Mongolian before, and it's very intriguing.
• I won't bother you with nerdy babbling about historical revisionism, romanticizing Genghis Khan, and such. This movie is a work of art and entertainment. Try to enjoy it as such. We actually don't have a lot of solid evidence for the earliest years of Temujin anyway. And we can argue later about the man who conquered huge swathes of central Asia with the edge of his bloody sword, created the Mongolian empire, and became a figure who terrified his enemies from China to the Black Sea.
  
• Here is the promised haiku:
  

Epic biopic
Genghis Khan rides to conquer
Learn Mongolian.