Cynical Cinema

Alliance Films is releasing Mongol on October 14th, and it is amazing. It is also fairly disappointing. You see, this movie was not at all what I wanted to see. It’s the story of Genghis Khan, and his rise to become the leader of all of Mongolia, commanding one of the most feared armies in the history of mankind. And I wanted to see him become the king, unite the Mongolian clans, and wage war with China and Russia and the rest of the world. Like a Braveheart of the Middle East. I was excited for bloodshed and bad-ass military tactics and toughness and possible cannibalism. But there was very little of that. Oh, sure, there IS a lot of toughness and violence and bloodshed and battling in the film, but that isn’t really what it’s about. In fact, this film depiction of one of the most brutal, powerful and ruthless men in history is…a love story.

The movie opens with young Temujin (later to become Ganghis Khan) at the age of nine, being dragged by his dad to visit a rival clan and choose a bride. His father, you see, once stole his own bride, Temujin’s mother, from this same tribe. In order to make peace, finally, with their rivals, Temujin is to be married off into their clan. However, young Temujin throws a wrench into the works when he chooses a bride from a different tribe, before they even get to their destination. We learn that the young man’s father, the leader of their clan, is a fair-minded and honourable man. We keep expecting him to be savage, and to do certain things, but he keeps surprising us. He proves to be fair-minded and honourable, telling young Temujin that he respects his decision, and after all, the heart wants what it wants.

And so begins this epic love story between Temujin and Borte, a story that covers many years, many kingdoms, many battles, a few kidnappings and a good deal of adversity. Temujin proves himself to be as wise and fair-minded as his father, accepting Borte’s children as his own even though she has had them by other men. In the world of these Mongol tribes, honour, custom and tradition is everything. This is why young Temujin is not killed when his father is murdered - Mongols don’t kill children. And as he grows up, in exile, he proves himself to be as tough as his father ever was. Tough, but not as ruthless as I imagined Genghis Khan to be. In fact, with his love for Borte and his desire for Mongolian unity, he comes off in this film as more of a poet than a warrior, more Gregory Peck than John Wayne.

Ironically, John Wayne once played Temujin in a fairly bad movie in 1956 called The Conqueror, when Susan Hayward played Borte. Mongol is far better than that sub-par effort, and it absolutely works, both as a love story and a character study of one of the most fascinating men in history. The film relies on a small amount of mysticism, most notably with a monk who meets the captured Temujin and knows right away that he is the man who will, in the future, destroy his empire. And although we do get to see some VERY bloody battles in Mongol, we never get to see the destruction of that empire. The movie appears to hit fast-forward toward the end, leaping to the creation of the vast army of Mongol hordes that will eventually cut a swath through the Eastern world. And maybe I’m one of the few people who want to see that swath being cut, while most people are going to be satisfied with the surprisingly tender and moving love story. But I doubt it. I think we all want to see that, and Mongol was so good that I would be perfectly willing to see a sequel to this fine film.

Terrence Malick is the kind of guy who is usually a character in movies, rather than a maker of movies. He lives in obscurity, surfacing once every decade or so to make a sensational movie, then he disappears again. In the 70s, he made the classic Badlands with Martin Sheen. He popped up in the 80s to make Days of Heaven with Richard Gere, and again in the 90s to direct The Thin Red Line with Sean Penn. All brilliant movies, all shrouded in a bit of mystery.

Then in 2005, Malick popped up again, this time directing the powerful and beautiful film The New World, with Colin Farrell. It’s ostensibly about Pocohontas, but in a Terrence Malick movie, the acting is secondary, and the script is tertiary. The New World, again, features very little dialogue. What sets his four films apart from the rest of the world is his camera. There has not been a movie that looks this good since, well, The Thin Red Line.

No one makes scenery a character in a film the way Terrence Malick does, and The New World is fantastic because of it. The extended edition comes out October 14th from Alliance Films, and it doesn’t add much to this brilliant movie. But if you missed The New World the first time around, it’s time to check it out. This film is a classic.