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Mongol is the story of the formative years of Genghis Khan. Temudjin is his name as a child, and this movie begins by showing us Temudjin at age nine, when he needs to choose a wife. It continues all the way until he starts to become powerful. The movie is in Mongolian and shot in Kazakhstan.

From the advertisements, my assumption was that this movie was more like the entire life story of Genghis Khan. I thought I'd be watching a lot of battles. But instead, this movie shows what his background was and the road that led him to his rise to power. My assumptions made me a little bit impatient while watching Mongol, which definitely moves at its own pace as the years and events pass by. It could probably have used a little bit of editing, but I guess I didn't mind because the movie was great to look at.

The movie has a couple of main story focuses. One is the love between Temudjin and his chosen wife, Borte, which begins at age nine but is a love that has to endure many absences from each other. Their dedication to one another as they both take turns getting captured and trying to save each other throughout the entire movie. They would do anything for the other, and both understand that it doesn't matter how that is accomplished, as long as they have each other. I liked the scene where Borte shows up to break Temudjin out of prison, and she has a child that was conceived and born while he was locked away (she slept with a man to get transportation across some drastic plains). He asks the girl's name inconsequentially, and then Borte tells her daughter that this is her new father and that she should forget about her old one.

The other focus of the movie is Temudjin's struggle to become Khan. It was his rightful title when his father, the previous Khan, died, but the villagers refused to recognize him as an authority figure. He has many encounters with other villages and their leaders, and his biggest encounter is actually between him and his blood-brother, Jamukha. The two form an early friendship (filled with some funny moments as well), but as the dynamics of being individual leaders escalate, they are forced apart. I liked that they still admire each other, even as they go into battle against one another.

I think my exposure to Mongolia has been limited to Ewan McGregor's The Long Way Round, so watching a few hours of the Mongolian environment was a pleasure. Director Sergei Bodrov features the landscape in wide, airy shots, and I don't think there was ever a moment where a screen shot looked vertically-minded. One could always feel the vastness of Temudjin's surroundings, and the isolated and unprotected nature of all of the villages.

Overall, Mongol is a new experience, but not perfect. It could use a few edits to bring it down in length, and some of the action sequences could be better filmed. But it's a movie that captures a culture, and unlike the usual focus of movie-making, it tells a relatively unfamiliar story about a famous person in history. It's wonderful to look at, and, while flawed, is an interesting and enjoyable experience.