The Rise to Power (Mongol (DVD))

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Mongol (DVD)
Date:	26/10/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good story, great acting, excellent scenery and music

Disadvantages: Bloody battle scenes and subtitles may not appeal to all

Young Temudgin is the son of the Mongol Khan (leader) and as he is now 10 he sets of with his Father to pick his bride. Temudgin upsets his father by picking his bride from a different tribe so peace cannot be made. Temudgin falls insistently in love with Bort and says he will return when he is 15 to marry her.

Temudgin is about to have his world turned upside down when his father gets murdered and the second in commend of the tribe start rioting and taking over, as Temudgin is rightfully the new Khan he is told that when he becomes a man he will be killed as Mongols do not kill children. Temudgin now has to leave his mother and set out on his own to the mountain where he can pray to the God of the Blue Sky for help and guidance. Along the way Temudgin makes a blood brother and starts to find the strength to protect himself. He does get taken prisoner by the Khan who wants him dead but a very elderly man feeds him and looks after him and eventually helps him to escape.

Temudgin is now a man and has returned to find his bride but will she still be waiting for him and now Temudgin had followers can he defeat the Khan before he kills him and how much can Temudgin endure to return the Mongols to their true beliefs and way of life?

This film was certainly not my choice and for me it sounded boring and not at all interesting. Did have a shock when the film started as it was subtitled and I thought that this would make me hate it even more but for me it gave it a nice authenticity as if the Mongols would have spoken English then I don't think it would have worked so well. I do not know much about Genghis Khan so for me this film was very informative and I did actually enjoy it. Hubby says that there was a lot of the story left out around how Temudgin become such a great warrior and a legend but I think that if much more would have been added to the story then it would have become very confusing.

I though that Tadanobu Asano whop took the role of Temudgin was excellent and for me he did look like the real Genghis Khan, well what I have seen of him in pictures anyway. He managed to bring an air of mystery to the character and I thought he did a fantastic job. There were times when I lost track of how far ahead the story had moved as he didn't age much during the second half of the film where as the time scale would have moved several years on. I think the young child actor who played the role at the start of the film was also excellent and portrayed a determined and courageous boy who wanted to fight for his beliefs.

There were a lot of supporting actors in the film, way too many to name but for the two main ones and the ones who stood out the most were the characters of his wife and his blood brother. I think his wife was long suffering being left for years at a time and never knowing if her husband would return but when they acted together they had an amazing chemistry which made the story of their love so much more real. I had mixed feelings about the role of his blood brother. I felt the character to be quite strange and distant. He did show some compassion for his blood brother and their was some chemistry between them but for me the relationship got a bit strange towards the end of the film.

The film was shot in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Germany and Russia and some of the shots which we were treated to really were amazing and wonderful. For me they really did make this film so much more watch able. There was no point in the film where I could clearly notice that the film was not shot on location and the back drop was added later. The battle scenes in the film were also excellent and made for some good, if brutal viewing. They really did take a lot of time and money to get these just right. Some of them did actually make me wince and look away as they were so graphic. The music score for this film was also one of the best bit and as it really did help with the emotions and setting the scenes for the characters. I think a lot of credit should be given for the music throughout this film.

The DVD which we had does have some bonus features which include the making of Mongol and Mongol trailer. I have not watched these so UI am unable to give comment on them. The running time of the film is 2 hours and the certificate is a 15 and I do agree with this due to the level of battle violence. We managed to get this DVD for just £4 in Tesco.

I am going to recommend this film as it tells a good story, is excellently made, has a great music score and the scenery is amazing. The only downside for me would have to be the subtitles and the language which was used made the subtitles appear for a lot longer than necessary.

Summary: Temudgin shows how he became the great Genghis Khan