When talking about the Great Wars of History, we would be remiss not to include the

conquering war wave of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. In terms of territory

captured and games played without a loss, the Mongols and their tiny

ponies are without rivals.

Weirdly, Hollywood has steered mostly clear of this epic story, with the exception of a Technicolor travesty

starring Omar Sharif and a really really weird and ludicrous movie starring

John Wayne both of which I'm sure we'll end up watching for this show.

Maybe it's because the heroes and a great many of the Concord are from Central Asia,

and the only conceivable role for Brad Pitt would be in a bit part as some minor hapless Slav or Mygar Unterberger getting his ass handed to him.

Anyway, we jumped at the chance to watch a picture made with a majority Mongolian cast,

but unfortunately, this isn't much of a war film.

There are lots and lots of fight scenes where the young future con gets thrashed and

misused, and even a major battle or two, but the bulk of this 2007 production is a consistently

brutal and epically beautiful origin story of the man, the myth, and the legend. It's an astonishing international collaboration

with Russian director Sergei Boderoff, a cast from all over East Asia, financing

from Germany, Russia, and Kazakhstan, and shooting locations mostly in Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

Today's film picks up its story in 1192,

when Gengh, whose name was Timushen, is trapped in a prison in Western China.

It flashes back to his childhood to how he met his wife, Borte, and then wins its way

past the poisoning of his father and the usurpation of his hereditary

title by a lesser member of his clan and the humiliation repeatedly of his family.

In his whole life he has only brief glimpses of stability, trust, and friendship, mostly

...