History in ”Mongol” by Sergei Bodrov: The Story of Temujin the Founder of the Ancient Mongol Empire

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Table of Contents

Summary
Subject matter
Themes
The director’s motive and objective
Historical contributions of the film
Weaknesses
Recommendations
Works Cited

Summary

The film narrates the story of Temujin (Temudgin), the founder of the ancient Mongol Empire. The story begins when a nine-year-old Temujin (Odynyam Odsuren) goes for an expedition with his father, Khan Yesugei (or Esugei) to choose a girl for his future marriage. Despite his father’s objections, the young boy chooses Borte (Bayertsetseg Erdenebat). The father is against because the girl is not a member of the Merkit ethnic group. According to the film, the Khan wants to make a treaty with the Merkit tribe through intermarriage (Puig 27). However, Temujin successfully persuades his father to accept Borte. When they return, an enemy clan poisons the Yesugei. Just before his death, Yesugei makes Temujin the Khan. However, Targutai, one of Yesugei’s top warriors, leads a mutiny and raids the Khan’s camp. They capture the young Temujin but his mother protests, asking Targutai not to break the customary laws by killing a child.

Targutai vows to return as soon as winter begins to kill the boy. Temunjin decides to run away after the onset of the winter, seeking to find refuge near the mountains of god. However, he falls into a frozen lake. A small boy named Jamukha (Amarbold Tuvshinbayar) rescues Temujin. After that, two boys perform an oath that binds them as “blood brothers”. Targutai, who is now the Khan, captures Temujin when he is about 18 years. However, Temujin escapes. The Khan captures him again and vows to kill him because he has attained the maturity age. Similarly, Temujin finds another plan to escape and finally finds Borte (Chuluuny Khulan). He brings her to his family, hoping to make her his wife. However, they are attacked by the Merkit tribe under the command of Chiledu (Xing Ga). Chiledu captures Borte, while Temujin escapes and finds Jamukha, who is now a Khan in his tribe

. After one year, Jamukha helps Temujin find his wife by attacking the Merkit territories. However, they find the young girl pregnant with a child from another man. Temujin decides to adopt the child after rescuing his wife.

Despite their long-term friendship, Jamukha and Temujin develop enmity after some of Jamukha’s soldiers, together with their horses, shift the camp and decide to follow Temujin. Temujin and his men are defeated in the battle against Targutai. As a result, Temujin is captured and exiled to Tangut.

While working as a slave to a Tangut Chief, Temujai is kept under the care of an old Buddhist monk, the chief’s advisor. The monk, inspired by gods, realizes that the new slave has great potential and warns the master. The monk pleads with the slave, urging him to save his life after his escape and eventual rise to power. In return, the monk delivers a secret message to Borte, informing her that Temujin is still alive. The monk dies just after his arrival at Borte’s residence.

Meanwhile, Temujin escapes and forms a large army that defeats both Targutai and Jamukha. The “Lord of the Great Blue Sky” aids him (Puig 27). Eventually, he becomes the founder of the Great Mongol Empire after uniting several Mongolian tribes and clans.

Subject matter

The plot indicates that the film is based on a historical event that took place in Asia. The event is important because it describes the origins of the ancient Mongol Empire. In addition, it describes the life of the founder from childhood to adulthood, depicting his ability to make several successful plans for escaping from various enemies (Smith B12). It also shows his ability to persuade and influence others. For instance, as a boy, Temujin successfully persuades his father to accept Borte, although she is not a Merkit. In addition, he successfully influences some of Jamukha’s best troops to join his camp.

From a historical perspective, it is believed that the Mongol Empire under the Khan dynasty, which Temujin established, existed between 1206 and 1370 (Addiego 12). This film shows that the foundation of the empire began after Temujin defeated both Targutai and Jamukha in 1206. He also conquered the Tangut Empire in 1227, expanding his empire (Smith B12). In addition, He ruled between 1206 and 1227 AD. Ogedei Khan succeeded him in 1229 (Smith B12).

Therefore, the film was made to portray the history of Mongols, including their ancient culture and politics. During this era, Genghis Khan became the first Khan to unite several clans and tribes, establishing an empire that was about 4 times larger than the Roman and Greek Empires (Addiego 12).

Themes

The first theme is the theme of love that is portrayed in various scenes throughout the film. For instance, Temujin’s love for Borte is undisputable. As a young boy, he falls in love with her and persuades his father to accept her. He also escapes several times to find her, each time risking his life. Thirdly, he decides to take Borte after finding her under the Merkit tribe, despite knowing that he was not responsible for her pregnancy.

The second theme is betrayal and greed for power. It is depicted in several parts of the film. For instance, after the Khan’s poisoning, Targut, one of the Khan’s loyal soldiers, betrays the dying king, raids his camp, and captures his son. He also keeps chasing the son in an attempt to retain his power (Puig 27).

Another theme is revenge. This theme is also revealed in the film. For instance, Temujin desires to kill Targutai to avenge his father’s death. He also vows to kill the Merkits for capturing his wife and humiliating his mother.

The director’s motive and objective

Sergei Bodrov spent several years doing research to find some historical evidence supporting the story of Temujin and the foundation of the Mongol Empire (Puig 27). In particular, the director realized the need for portraying the origins of the Mongolian empire. At the beginning of the film, there is a prologue explaining (through an audio narration) the reason for developing the film. According to the explanation, the Mongolian Empire is “…one of the largest kingdoms the world has ever witnessed…” (Puig 28). The director was also inspired by the story of the Mongols in Lev Gumilev’s book. Thus, the objective was to develop a story that would increase the understanding of the Mongolian culture and inspire scholars to carry out additional studies to elaborate on the history and culture of the Mongols.

Historical contributions of the film

Specifically, the director wanted to portray various aspects of the ancient Mongolian culture to historians. For instance, the film asserts that the Mongolians were nomadic groups of people that occupied a vast area in Asia. However, they lived within the clans, which often fought with each other. The Khan was the supreme ruler of each clan. Although the inter-clan wars often caused massive losses of lives and property, the Mongol culture was against the killing of children and women (Rothkopf 24).

Weaknesses

Nevertheless, the film is mainly based on non-historical evidence because it does not depict the true story of the Mongolian empire. Most of the events in the storyline are based on the directors’ knowledge of history, which was primarily derived from Lev Gumilev’s story as well as a short poem from an unknown author.

Recommendations

I would recommend history students and other scholars to watch and analyze the film. Although it does not show the real events in history, it attempts to examine the history of the Mongolian empire.

Works Cited

Addiego, Walter. “Review: ‘Mongol’ revisits Genghis Khan.” San Francisco Chronicle 2008: 17. Web.

Mongol. Ex. Dir. Sergei Bodrov. Moscow, Russia: Picturehouse Entertainment. 2007. DVD.

Puig, Claudia. “Tepid ‘Mongol’ A sweeping historic tale.” USA Today, 2008: 27. Web.

Rothkopf, Joshua. “Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan.” Times Out 2008: 24. Web.

Smith, Kyle. “Sweet Mongolia: How Genghis Got His Horde.” New York Post 2008: B12. Web.

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