Der Mongole (2007)
44KDer Mongole: Directed by Sergei Bodrov. With Tadanobu Asano, Honglei Sun, Khulan Chuluun, Aliya. The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan who was a slave before going on to conquer half the world in 1206.
“Mongol (2007), was co-written and directed by Sergei Bodrov. It was filmed in Kazakhstan, and is in Mongolian with English subtitles. Itu0026#39;s a biography of Ghenghis Khan, especially his rise to power. The movie quotes an old proverb: u0026quot;Do not scorn a weak cub; he may become a brutal tiger.u0026quot; Actually, as portrayed in the film, Ghenghis Khan was hardly a weak cub, even as a young child. However, he certainly became a tiger when grown–whether brutal or just powerful is another question.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is more or less consistent with the Wikipedia report of Khanu0026#39;s life. He was captured and enslaved as a boy, but managed to escape and eventually conquer his local tribal enemies. (The movie portrays Ghenghis Khan as a young boy and then a young man. The film ends before we can see Khanu0026#39;s eventual consolidation of his huge empire.)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is (literally) a cast of thousands. The movie is colorful, the battle scenes are graphic, and men, women, and horses all look great. The acting was excellent, especially that of Odnyam Odsuren as the young Ghenghis Khan, Tadanobu Asano as the grown man, and the beautiful Khulan Chuluun as Börte, his wife.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor political and/or esthetic reasons, Khan is portrayed as a man who brought the warring Mongolian tribes together, and as a lawgiver and just ruler. I donu0026#39;t have enough knowledge of the period to know whether the people of his empire would have taken this view. However, this is a movie, not a Ph.D. dissertation, so I accepted it as an action-filled and enjoyable–if not profound–film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWe saw this film at the excellent Rochester High Falls International Film Festival. Because of the sweeping nature of the battles, and the glorious shots of the landscape, this movie will lose a lot on DVD. Try to see it in a theater, preferably one with a large screen.”
