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Whether or not this squares with the historical record I'll leave to the scholars. Either way, this Genghis Khan may not fit your preconceptions. He has no apparent faults. He has no lust for power other than that which is for the good of his family and his people. He has goodness, but little charisma. He does not, in fact, do much of anything that would inspire the sort of wholesale devotion that would cause tens of thousands to rally to his side and lay down their lives.

Genghis Khan and his men are off to war

And that's the crux of my objections with this film. Mongol spends so much time on the child Temudjin that the adult Genghis Khan is given short shrift. At first I was delighted that the film cared so much about its characters that it was willing to lavish exorbitant amounts of time on their back-stories. Little did I know the back-story would end up constituting more than a quarter of the film, and the Genghis Khan I so wanted to see—the warrior learning his trade and developing his battle strategies; the tribal chieftain who united the squabbling and infighting clans beneath one, unified banner; the neighboring upstart who sacked and plundered China's greatest treasures—was nowhere to be found.

Mongol is not interested in Temudjin once he becomes Genghis Khan. It is interested in how the transition from one to the other is made. One can forgive the film's abrupt ending, hinting at but not showing Genghis Khan's march on China and the exploits for which he is still known today. But, those other elements, which should be natural to the process, are lost entirely. The film glosses over the very things we want to see, with a few lines of narration. Show, don't tell, is the first lesson of Cinema 101. However, Mongol, doubtless mindful of its lengthy running time (124 minutes) chooses instead to ignore some of the most significant moments in Genghis Khan's life and rush toward a deeply unsatisfactory ending.

In 1944, another director from the steppes, Sergei Eisenstein, made the film Ivan the Terrible, another historical epic about a monarch who united a country, swept his enemies before him and expanded his empire. The classic film was followed by a superb sequel, and it was only when the two halves were united that the whole become significantly greater than the parts. There are rumors that Bodrov has plans for a sequel to Mongol, and although a companion piece would not erase all of the first film's shortcomings, it would go a long way toward creating a comprehensive, holistic feel—something this film definitely lacks.

>Talk About It

1. Throughout the film, Temujin prays to his god, Tengni, for deliverance and success in battle. It would appear that Tengni was listening. How do you reconcile others' success when they credit it to a source other than our God?
2. What does the film say about Temujin's relationship with his wife, Börte? Does much of his greatness rest in his relationship with his wife? What can we learn from their example?
3. At one point in the film, a Buddhist monk tells Temujin, "My faith does not allow me to kill." "Mine does," is the reply. What is Christianity's stance? Is it a black-and-white issue?
4. What do you think of films that engage in some "revisionist history"? Here, the main character is portrayed not as the bloodthirsty tyrant we all think he was, but as a sensitive man committed to family values. The filmmakers clearly want us to relate to him, not hate him. Is that okay? Why?

The Family Corner

Mongol is rated R for sequences of bloody warfare. The fact that most of the blood-gushing gore in the film is computer generated doesn't make it any less graphic. Mongol contains only light to moderate language and includes a scene in which a husband and wife make love as seen only in shadows. There is also an instance of upper body female nudity so brief and so concealed in the background that the MPAA didn't even see fit to mention it.

Photos © Copyright Picturehouse Entertainment

© Brandon Fibbs subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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