Mongol

Review by Anthony Morris

There's history and then there's HISTORY, and Mongol doesn't just fall into the second camp, it rides into it on horseback swinging an axe and chopping off heads.

Whether this "untold story of Genghis Khan" is strictly true or not (for all it's historical credentials it still seems a lot like Mongol propaganda) it certainly feels like the kind of backstory a leader should have. 

It's 1172 and the nine year-old Termudgin (Genghis' birth name) is being taken by his father (the ruler or Khan of his tribe) to pick a bride from a rival tribe. But Termudgin gets the girl he wants by out-smarting his dad, which is probably not that hard to do because on the way home his dad is poisoned by another rival tribe. 

Termudgin's dad's 2IC takes over, kicks Termudgin's family out into the cold, and swears to kill Termudgin once he's old enough to count as an adult.

Basically, it's all downhill from there as Termudgin becomes a fugitive, then a prisoner, then a young man (Asano Tadanobu), constantly on the run and in danger from his former tribe. 

When he finally does get to claim his bride she's stolen from him by yet another tribe, when he wages war with his blood brother on that tribe she comes back to him pregnant by another man, and when he splits the proceeds of victory with his blood brother Jamukha (Honglei Sun) it's the beginning of a rift between the two that would see Termudgin once again defeated and sold into slavery. 

But the more you get knocked down the sweeter the eventual victory, and Termudgin sure does get knocked down a lot in this savage and bloody real-life version of Conan. 

Filmed on location on the Mongolian steppes, the scenery is breath-taking, as are the numerous battle sequences, which don't exactly skimp on the blood. 

Truly an epic in every sense of the word - there's even a love story in here, as Termudgin and his wife constantly fight to find their way back to each other - this is the kind of film that has to be seen on the big screen.

4 out of 5

Mongol
Australian release: 5th June, 2008
Cast: Aliya, Tegen Ao, Tadanobu Asano, Ying Bai
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Website: Mongol

Brought To You By It's Better In The Dark