The first installment of a prospective trilogy, Mongol chronicles the early life of Temudjin, from his childhood on the Asian steppe to his ascension to Khan in 1206.

 

[the cinematography is tremendous and the costumes top-notch,and the casting department deserves a couple extra bushels of brownie points for picking actors who – unlike many a Hollywood ensemble – look like they could actually survive the conditions they supposedly inhabit. The combat scenes are captivating and cleverly shot, and despite the inevitable comparison to such battle-heavy epics as Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, Bodrov keeps a handle on things, never letting any of the battles run beyond the five minute mark,

 

endowing the film with an element of realism and restraint where many of the other so-called epics go completely over the top.True,the movie relies a bit more heavily on CGI(?Késaco)than I would prefer,but the Mongolian landscape, the real star of the show, is so gorgeous, so demanding, so jaw-droppingly authentic that we quickly forget our visual grievances and get lost in the rudimentary act of watching.

Trivia
Showing all 14 items

-Originally, 'Mongol' was the first part of a projected trilogy. However after the difficulty making this film, director Sergey Bodrov decided not to make the sequels. Several months after shooting wrapped however, he changed his mind again and decided to conflate his scripts for parts 2 and 3 into one script, and just do the one sequel, entitled 'The Great Kahn'. It was originally scheduled to be released in late 2010, but the project was held back for several months. In Noevember 2010 however, it was announced that all work on the film had ceased, and was unlikely to resume. 

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-Director Sergey Bodrov and Production Designer Dashi Namdakov visited Mongolia's chief shaman in the capital city of Ulan Bator, so that they could ask permission to film a movie about Genghis Khan's life. The shaman told them that of all the people who have talked about making such a film, they were the only ones to ask his permission.
Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-Some locations were so remote that the crew had to build roads to access them.
Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
The quotation used at the beginning of the film is a genuine Mongolian proverb: "Do not scorn a weak cub. He may become the brutal tiger."

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-The film took 14 months to shoot, and had a crew of 400 people (300 Chinese and 100 Russians), and over 1500 extras. Because there were so many different nationalities working on the film (Germans, Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhstanis), a team of over 30 interpreters were on set at all times.

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-Prior to appearing in the film as Börte, actress Khulan Chuluun was studying to be a journalist, and had never acted before. Director Sergey Bodrov had sent casting director Gulshat Omarova to Mongolia to look for actresses for the role, but she was unable to find any. Disappointed with her failure, she went to the Chinese Embassy to renew her Visa so as to travel back to China. Whilst she was in the embassy, she saw Khulan by sheer accident, and approached her to ask about playing the role.
Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-Prior to filming the scenes of Temudgin (Tadanobu Asano) and Börte (Khulan Chuluun) together, director Sergey Bodrov kept the two actors apart, and never allowed them to meet, as he didn't want them to be too comfortable with one another, due to the fact that they are supposed to have separated for several years in the film.

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-During the shooting of scenes involving a lot of extras, it was discovered that many of the extras were drinking alcohol between takes, which was causing problems amongst the mixed nationalities when shooting began. As such, the production purchased some footballs and the extras played soccer amongst themselves. However, after several weeks, they became bored with this, and soon returned to drinking, until second assistant director Zhao Meng had the idea to hire some female dancers and singers, and bring them onto location to perform for the extras.

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-The film was financed with money from Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan and the United States. 

-The film was shot primarily in Kazakhstan and China. In China, the primary location was Inner Mongolia, a Mongolian province within China's borders which has more Mongolians living in it than Mongolia itself.

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-Kazakhstan's official submission in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards (2008).

Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
The final battle scene required 1500 horses and riders, which had to be imported from Kazakhstan to Inner Mongolia in China (where the scene was shot). The riders however, were not professional actors, and needed 2 months of training prior to shooting.
Share this: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Permalink Hide options
-The artist and sculptor Dashi Namdakov worked on the film as production designer. It represented his first job in the film industry.
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-Due to the isolation in which the film was made, viewing dailies was impossible. Exposed footage had to be sent to Hamburg in Germany to be processed, and then sent back to China for viewing, a process which took three weeks (usually dailies are processed and returned in 24 hours)