Mongol (2007)

Mongol. Directed by Sergei Bodrov. Written by Alif Aliyev and Sergei Bodrov. Release Date: September 20, 2007. Country of Production: Russia. Key Cast: Tadanobu Asano (Temudjin), Sun Honglei (Jamukha), Khulan Chuluun (Borte).

I first got wind of this film when I was mapping out my schedule for the 2008 Sarasota Film Festival, but unfortunately, when I went to buy tickets for it, it was sold out. Needless to say, the combined interest of the public and my inability to see it then furiously made me want to watch this movie even more than I did after seeing the beautiful trailer. Lucky for me, it was released to the theater out at the beach here in town, and I gotta say, the hype was totally justified.

This glorious historical epic chronicles the life of Genghis Khan, from the time he was a child, through his enslavement, to his bloody conquering of the Mongolian empire. The costumes are incredibly elaborate, and the characters are relate-able and animated without jumping the threshold of this movie's period setting. The music is beautiful, and features a great amount of traditional overtone singing (a.k.a. "throat singing") which, if you're unfamiliar with, is almost unbelievable. Check it out:

Some highly accomplished throat singing.

The cinematography is also really beautiful, and many of the epic landscape shots are breathtaking. And at the heart of all the hardcore, gritty battle scenes is a sweet love story, which I'm always a sucker for. So, if you get the chance to check it out, go for it. Who knows how long this gem will be released to mainstream theaters? Since it lacks copious amounts of CG, nudity and/or Hayden Christensen, I'll be impressed if anyone sees this movie.