Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007)

Монгол

Greatness comes to those who take it.

The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan, a slave who went on to conquer half the world in the 11th century.

Date of release
2007-09-20
TMDB
6.8 / 10 (817)
Runtime
2h 5m
Genres
History, War, Action
Director
Sergei Bodrov

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Box office: $26.5M
  • Budget: $18M
  • Earned 1.5× its budget
  • Awards: 3 · Nominations: 4. Including: Nika Award for Best Costume Design; Asian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor; National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Mongol (Монгол), also known as Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan in the United States and Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan in the United Kingdom, is a 2007 period epic film directed by Sergei Bodrov, about the early life of Temüjin, who later came to be known as Genghis Khan. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Bodrov and Arif Aliev. It was produced by Bodrov, Sergei Selyanov, and Anton Melnik and stars Tadanobu Asano, Sun Honglei, and Chuluuny Khulan in the main roles. Mongol explores abduction, kinship, and the repercussions of war.

Production

The premise of Mongol is the story of Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader who founded the Mongol Empire, which ruled expansive areas of Eurasia. The film depicts the early life of Temüjin, not as an evil war-mongering brute, but rather an inspiring visionary leader. Director Bodrov noted that "Russians lived under Mongolian rule for around 200 years" and that "Genghis Khan was portrayed as a monster".

Bodrov spent several years researching the aspects of his story, discovering that Temüjin was an orphan, a slave and a combatant whom everyone tried to kill. He found difficulty in preparing the screenplay for the film due to the fact that no contemporary Mongol biography existed. The only Mongol history from the era is The Secret History of Mongols, written for the Mongol royal family some time after Genghis Khan's death in AD 1227.

The film was initially intended to be shot in Mongolia, but the plans caused much protest in the country, as many Mongolians feared that it would not correctly portray their people and their national hero. As a consequence, shooting was moved to the Chinese autonomous region Inner Mongolia and to Kazakhstan.

Filming began in 2005, lasting 25 weeks and taking place in China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. Production designer Dashi Namdakov helped to recreate the pastoral lifestyle of the nomadic tribesmen. Namdakov is originally from a Russian region which borders Mongolia and is home to many ethnic Mongols.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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