Mongol by Sergei Bodrov

S

Shadow

Well-known member
Wow ! I think this one look promising. The cinematography (Sergei Trofimov & Rogier Stoffers) from the trailer look very very nice. The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan who was a slave before going on to conquer half the world including Russia in 1206.

A film in the "Hero" category. Release date : June 6

http://www.mongolmovie.com/
 
Damn it! I've been dreaming about making that same movie since I was 18. At least that's only 3 years down the drain. It's too bad they decided to make it into an action epic movie, or at least seemed to have done that. "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" really illuminated the fact that his political and economic maneuvers were just as deft as his military ones.

I wonder why there is this emphasis on epic action flicks centered around a mythical, morally upright hero. I'd much rather if they were done more along the lines of Chrisopher Marlowe's "Tamburlaine the Great" where the story really calls into question the ultimage good that these world-historic indviduals are doing.

davide
 
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davide said:
Damn it! I've been dreaming about making that same movie since I was 18. At least that's only 3 years down the drain. It's too bad they decided to make it into an action epic movie, or at least seemed to have done that. "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" really illuminated the fact that his political and economic maneuvers were just as deft as his military ones.

I wonder why there is this emphasis on epic action flicks centered around a mythical, morally upright hero. I'd much rather if they were done more along the lines of Chrisopher Marlowe's "Tamburlaine the Great" where the story really calls into question the ultimage good that these world-historic indviduals are doing.

davide
Click to expand...

Timur (Tamburlaine) was not an Angel.

"Sources claim that when Timur conquered Persia, Iraq and Syria, the civilian population was decimated. Timur is historically considered to be a contradictory and controversial figure, as was the case even during his lifetime. He was a patron of the arts, but also destroyed the great centres of learning during his conquests."

"Timur herded thousands of citizens of Damascus into the Cathedral Mosque before setting it aflame,[23] and had 70,000 people beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad.[19][24] As many as 17 million people may have died from his conquests."

Probably these numbers are overly inflated however.

If they want the film to be popular, may be they don't have the choice to do an action epic movie.
 
Genghis Khan reign was between 1206 to 1227, closer to 16th century than 10,000 BC, so you're not to far from truth.
 
Shadow said:
If they want the film to be popular, may be they don't have the choice to do an action epic movie.
Click to expand...

That's what I mean. When "Tamburaline the Great" came out it quickly became one of the most successful plays in English history. It's influence was so great that after it everybody started writing their plays in blank verse. It started the history play genre which Shakespeare took and mastered. Back then that was popular entertainment. Artists didn't have to worry about driving away audiences by making their heroes flawed (sometimes severely so). I feel like after 400 years of 'development' we've lost the ability to appreciate more nuanced portrayals of historical figures. Even the 1970s film Patton did a far better job than today's crop of historical films.

I think the attention and respect that "There Will Be Blood" got is a good start. Maybe if movies like that start catching on and getting broader mass appeal we can get back to creating characters not idealistic myths when it comes to epic movies.
 
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