Review by Dennis Marcus
Stars Eduard Ondar, Stepanida Borissova, Sergei Egorov, Gernot Grimm | Written by Nikolay Luginov
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 115 minutes | Directed by Andrei Borissov
Featured at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, this debut film by Russian director Andrei Borissov represented a major statement that 'ambitions (were) on the rise in Moscow' as part of a growing movie industry. Borissov was given $10million to bring the story of Genghis Khan to the big (and with this DVD - the little) screen.
And what a story it is. Based on the novel 'Chyngys Khaan Yiagynan' (By the command of Genghis Khan) by Nikolay Alekseevich Luginov, the film actually charts the transformation of Borijgin Temujin from a young boy into the ruthless founder of the largest contiguous Empire in history. It's fascinating - and speaks to a different existence and different world that I doubt anyone could imagine. But I think at the same time it is fair to say that as good as the story is, it loses something by its subjectivity. The film plays like you would imagine a propaganda biopic in the old Soviet Union might have done - depicting Genghis Khan as a hero while not really dealing with the massacres that characterised the growth of the Empire.
But that didn't really bother me. That sounds damning with faint praise, and in a way it is. This film could and should have been so much better. It had a great story and the filmmakers clearly went to great lengths to make it look authentic - including shooting in the areas of Mongolia where Genghis Khan actually lived, which makes for some stunning vistas and backdrops. Costumes also look authentic, and I believe they used local actors (so you have no Jake Gyllenhaal/Prince of Persia fiasco). They also used members of the actual Mongol army to do some of the fighting scenes, so some of the stunts are obscenely impressive.
Overall however, this film never feels like anything much better than a decent(ish) made-for-TV movie. The script (I'm going from the English subtitles) is pretty hammy, and very functional - rather than authentic. Combined with a very functional approach to storytelling makes it seem that Borissov is trying to hit you over the head with different messages throughout the film. The film charts the lessons that 'made the legend' in a series of tableaux that are incredibly unsubtle. In the very first of them, Genghis' father meets his mother by seeing her, pointing at her and stating "You will be my wife." Job done.
Such clunky lines, combined with some dodgy 'smell the fart' acting and a lack of intensity to any aspect of the film made it, in places, a bit of an ordeal to watch. However, it does feature beautiful vistas, the most extreme execution concept I've ever seen and the finest pause in the middle of a battle sequence, where a commander smells the air and says "We are snared." Inspired. However, I'm not sure it made watching the entire film worth it.
EXTRAS None