Mongol – A-

What was supposed to be a summer of leisure has become an endless amount of tasks pre film school.  One thing I have not done is stop watching movies.  Though the state of the blog might argue with me, I’ve been out and about.  My friend Dave and I went to see Mongol on night when neither of us had much to do.  It turned out to be a great idea.   With his keyboard in the full upright position Dave brings us to the land of Mongolia, to meet the greatest conqueror of all time.

In the heat of the summer, popcorn movies seem to dominate the box-office and movie consciousness. Don’t get me wrong, as we’ve discussed previously in this blog, popcorn movies have their place in the movie cycle, and serve as the revenue generators for the smaller prestige pictures. Howeve it’s sometimes difficult during these summer months to find a film worth spending 10 bucks on when your choices are between Meet Dave and Mamma Mia. Yet, as summer movies go, Mongol bucks the trend in a highly inventive and refreshing way.

Seasoned Russian director Sergei Bodrov helmed and co-wrote this historical epic about the rise of the man would become Genghis Khan. Beginning as a 10-year-old dealing with the realities of his father’s murder, the plot follows Tenmudjin through his abusive childhood, imprisonment, and surprisingly his love and family life. The story itself is a bit laborious at points, clocking in at just over 2 hours, but to expect less from a historical epic is to leave too much out. While the historical epic has been around since the founding of motion pictures, Bodrov creates a new sub-genre, adding a post-modern humanity to the epic. Replacing much the typical two hours of battles and planning, which still exist in all their sword-swinging blood-spurting glory, is the story of a man and his daily trials. As much as I love action, this new take was a far superior story yet still delivered enough gore to play well even in the summer months.

As much as has been made of the story, the real gem in this film was its breathtaking cinematography. It has been a long time since I’ve openly gasped in the movie theater, but I lost count of how many times Bodrov and his cinematographer left me stunned by the immense beauty of the steppe in Mongolia and Kazakhstan (ditto – Jesse). This is just a movie that could not have been shot anywhere else and the landscape was as much a character as any one of the actors. The wide plains of the steppe accurately reveal a part of the mongol psyche in a way that no sound stage or stand-in location ever could. Bodrov’s innovative first-person camera angles help to keep the focus on the individual, but it cannot be understated the experience you will have going to this movie. After doing a little research online afterwards it turns out that Mongol is only part one of three in the life of Genghis Kahn that Bodrov plans to direct, and I eagerly look forward to the next two.

On an unrelated note: In a theater with two other groups of people (at a late night showing no less), this movie was almost ruined by two obtrusive individuals. Their loud constant talking interrupted almost every scene and I just could not get into this movie at times. It took not one, but TWO less than cheerful interactions (orchestrated by me – Jesse) with these folks to have any semblance of quiet in the film (not that they stopped afterwards, they still kept chattering along though at least at a level below normal voices). I have absolutely no patience for this lack of respect to your fellow movie-goers! Its just common sense that you don’t talk in movies, but the proliferation of home theaters and DVDs has caused people to think the movie theaters are their own homes. Teenie boppers text message and talk on their cell phones, others talk and question each plot point. Even my family members are guilty of this at times and I won’t put up with it from them either. Please, as a favor to the rest of us, don’t ruin the movie for everyone else, the rest of us just don’t want to hear it!

- Dave

Additional notes of my (Jesse) own would include the amazing fight sequences we seem to have lost in between Braveheart and Gladiator.  You can keep the flashy CGI of 300.  Give us the blood splattering on the camera, well choreographed swordsmanship, and real gut wrenching tension.  The score is not as memorable as either Braveheart or Gladiator, but rest assured, we won’t be forgetting Mongol anytime soon.

***Broke into the top 10 of 2008***