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Tadanobu Asano. Foreign action/bio from Russian director Sergei Bodrov.

FILM SYNOPSIS: Recounts the early life of Genghis Khan who was a slave before going on to conquer half the world, including Russia, in 1206.

Based on scholarly accounts and written by Sergei Bodrov and Arif Aliyev, Mongol delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the Mongolian ruler. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror. The film shows us the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor.

PREVIEW REVIEW: For such a long film (126 min.) it leaves out such details as how Temudgin (later dubbed Genghis Kahn) became a warrior with the combined skill of Bruce Lee and Patton. Much of the film he is seen as a captured slave, often with a yoke around his neck. Suddenly we see him in battle behaving like a Marvel superhero. Then there’s the slow pacing, so out of step with the sensibilities of today’s targeted audience, and the slow-mo battle sequences containing blood spraying and bodies twisting ala Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. These are turnoffs and setbacks which may cause a quick death at the American box office. A shame, because despite these shortcomings, it’s the best film I’ve seen so far this year. Reason: the visceral and poetic nature of Sergei Bodrov and Arif Aliyev’s storytelling. It’s simply mesmerizing, and fascinating to look at, with its Doctor Zhivago-like cinematography.

The technical and artistic achievements are award-worthy, filmed in the very lands where the world conqueror became legend. Director Sergei Bodrov, who won Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his acclaimed drama Kavkazsky Plennik/Prisoner of the Mountains in 1996, transports us to an exotic locale and period in world history, filming what reportedly is to be the first in a Genghis Kahn trilogy.

DVD Alternatives: El Cid. Charlton Heston as the legendary hero who drove the Moors from Spain. Great spectacle (without being too gruesome), with a literate script and lovely score. A newly remastered edition features commentaries and featurettes.

Or:

Spartacus. Kirk Douglas stars as a slave who heads a rebellion against the tyranny of Rome. It contains terrific acting, score and theme, and in Spartacus, when you see legions of soldiers on the battlefield – they are real, not computer generated.

Distributor: Picturehouse