Mongol
November 2008 Reviewed by: Josh Barber Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Mongol is the first film of a proposed trilogy chronicling the life of Temudgin, the man more popularly known by his title of Universal Ruler or, in Mongolian, "Genghis Khan." There is little contemporary evidence about Khan's early life, but Russian director Sergei Bodrov has taken the commonly accepted version and spun it into a rich and engrossing tale.

We see Temudgin as a young boy, the son of his tribe's leader and a bride stolen from a rival tribe. This outsider status makes his early life uneasy, something that shapes the boy as he grows. Tadanobu Asano plays the adult Temudgin, pre-Khan, and gives an excellent, understated performance.

The script doesn't try to present an omniscient narrator's view of events, intricately detailed with facts and figures, but instead tells a personal human tale against a larger, unseen backdrop. Much of the (assumed) history of Genghis Khan is left unsaid, but it's never ignored or contradicted. With so few reliable accounts of the time, this was a smart way to go.

Mongol is a visual masterpiece, and it's represented almost perfectly on DVD. The colors are purposely desaturated, but they still manage to feel solid and not washed out. The snowy terrain of Mongolia doesn't blow out the whites, but neither do the shadows get too dark. There are a few times when we do get a bit of grain, however. It's usually in the night scenes, where the reds of firelight are prevalent, but since it's so contained, there's a possibility it was an intentional choice.

The transfer does a superb job of maintaining the crisp details of the scenery and the large crowd scenes without ever being over-enhanced. You can watch the blades of grass sway in the wind or individual raindrops fall, but don't think the less pastoral scenes are any softer.

In keeping with the beautiful images, the disc has a remarkably good audio presentation. Quiet, subdued scenes are given just as much attention as the battles, and both the high and low ends of your speaker setup will get to do their share of the work. The only audio track is Mongolian, but the voices are clear, and there are English, English SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing) and Spanish subtitles. It's hard to compete with the video, but the audio does a fine job.

The movie is good, the video is stunning, and the audio holds its own. At this point, we're shaping up for a top-notch disc, right? Well, not quite. The biggest letdown is the utter lack of any special features. This is the ever-popular historical epic; there should be plenty of fertile ground for bonuses! Costume design, historical comparison, any number of potential subjects, and not a one made it. Apparently the Region 2 release gets a making-of documentary, but all the US version boasts is scene selection.

Mongol is an excellent film, and this DVD has a wonderful transfer. However, the dearth of extras keeps this from being a must-own title. It's absolutely worth a rental. Watch the movie and decide if it's worth purchasing for your collection.

• Go Back