Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea

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Audience Member An awkward & pale Genghis Khan story being boringly told by Japanese. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member This is not an excellent movie like "The Last of the Mohicans". Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member This Japanese film (sometimes also translated as "The Blue Wolf: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea") apparently took 27 years to get to the big screen. It's a joint Mongolian production, and I imagine it was difficult to the get the Mongolians on board before the Berlin Wall came down. It features 27,000 extras in addition to 5,000 Mongolian soldiers for the wide, sweeping battle scenes. [PARAGRAPH INDENT]And for all that work, it is quite impressive. However, as if to steal its thunder at gunpoint, it came out the same year as Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol", which has dominated the praise of Mongol film buffs ever since. [PARAGRAPH INDENT]"Mongol" went on to win 11 film awards, including being nominated for best foreign film by the Academy Awards (losing to Austria's "The Counterfeiters"). As near as I can tell, "To the Ends of the Earth and Sea" won nothing, and it only made $3,800 on the American market. [PARAGRAPH INDENT]It is a good film. It's well acted. It's reasonably historically accurate (they accurately show Yesugei's abduction and rape of Hoelun, which is sometimes recast in a more favourable light; but they did have Jochi dying 21 years before he did historically). There are grand, sweeping battle scenes (although the horses "charged" at a trot, for the most part). The story has good direction, there's good pacing and flow, the characters are introduced appropriately, there's a central conflict and a story arc that has a final conclusion. I don't discount the worth of this film - it's just got to sting to be released the same year as a triumph like "Mongol". [PARAGRAPH INDENT](I also feel I should mention that this introduces a young, 16-year-old Go Ara as warrior woman Khulan, who just two years later became the hottest woman in Asia. Also, Jack Weatherford, a pro-Mongol revisionist, wrote nothing about Khulan Khatun, so I have to assume that the Asian Amazon Go Ara plays is a liberty taken with history.) [PARAGRAPH INDENT]Alas, there's an inherent bias against making a biopic of Genghis' life, and that's that he's the antagonist. He's the brutal barbarian that ravaged and eviscerated China and the Middle East. And too many films about him deal with this moralization issue by only covering the first forty years of his life, where Jamukha comes out as the antagonist. However, it's the last twenty years that are the most interesting. And, in true fashion, this film ends in 1206 with his declaration as khan and doesn't get to the bloodthirsty genocide and unfathomable annihilation that comes between 1206 and 1227. "Mongol" suffered the same problem, but closed with the "epilogue" that Genghis annihilated Xi Xia into dust, but happened to leave the Buddhist monastery standing out of the kindness of his heart. [PARAGRAPH INDENT]So, it's a good film, but it's unfortunately outshone by one far better. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member One year, two movies about Genghis Khan with Japanese men playing the title role. Happy 800th birthday Mongolia! This one doesn't have the advantage of Asano though. "Blue Wolf" is described as a "historical drama" instead of a "semi-historical war film" and was allegedly shot for $20 (instead of $18m) in Mongolia instead of Kazakhstan and Inner Mongolia. The costumes, settings and amount of extras are amazing. Covering, not just GK, but also the politics, family problems and the plight of women. The added context is interesting and adds a lot to the understanding of the times. A beautiful movie. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Not historically acurate, but a highly incredible and majestic story of how a man became the founding father of Mongolia. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Although probably truer to the known facts about Genghis Khan then its counterpart, Bodrov's "Mongol", this film surprisingly doesn't seem all that well done. Something went missing here. "Mongol" at least attempted to capture the essence of spirit and wisdom of this dire and bit enigmatic historical figure, in a more unconventional manner. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea

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