Khhhhaaan!
It might not be obvious from the name ‘Genghis Khan,’ but the word khan is actually actually the name or title given to a ruler in Mongolian language. There is a wealth of information about Genghis Khan online,but you don’t need to know a thing about him to enjoy this film.
The two hour film begins with Khan at age nine on horseback riding journey some fellow members of his tribe and his father, the khan of said tribe. They’re traveling to see another tribe so that Genghis,born and referred to as Temujin, can pick out a bride. When he arrives, a girl a year older than him greats him and tells Temujin that he should pick her. He does, and the tribesmen begin their travel back home. When they stop for a rest and Temujin’s father is offered milk from a group of ‘enemies’ resting several hundred yards away, he drinks it, and dies soon after from poison.
Temujin’s hard life only gets harder from here, as nearly all the tribesman ofhis village loot and ransack and disperse, with one in particular who vows to kill him when he’s older, and even goes as far as to capture Temujin more than once during his youth. Khan’s undying faith and love in his chosen wife, Borte, and relationship to his blood brother(who is khan of a rival Mongolian tribe), is well documented but one thing that was noticeably missing was how he went from scruffy, poor prisoner to leader of many Mongolians.
That said, this movie is much more about relationships in Khan’s life rather than his military and conquering might. The film actually endsat a point where Kahn is only beginning to unify the the tribes and the territory, so you may not only be surprised to see Khan in this light, but the film itself and it’s strong emphasis on relationships and drama may surprise those expecting war scene after war scene.This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does make the movie less easy to watch a second time, as it’s so heavy with drama that it could be difficult to sit through again.
New Line Home Video did a good job of bringing the sound and the video to DVD, but there are literally no extra features at all on this disc,although there are instructions in the case on how to get a Windows Media Player-only compatible digital version, hardly exciting. The video and audio quality are up to par though, and shouldn’t disappoint.
This makes for a great rental, but it’s hard to recommend as an outright purchase. There’s little doubt that it’s a very interesting look at the supreme conqueror’s life, but it may move a little too slow and be too dramatic for many people to want to see again.