Sergei Bodrov, Russia, 2007 (9*)
Stunning cinematography and visual images make this biopic of the early life of a Mongol named Temudgin, who was later to become Genghis Khan, a must see for all cinema fans. The faces of the actors are all perfect, as we start with a nine-year old Temudgin on a trip with his father, who gets poisoned. The next couple of decades are not only a fight for survival, but also provide the future khan with enough solitude to be able to clearly conceive a plan for his life that he later put into action. When captured, a priest of the king says "let this man go, I see hordes of Mongols on horseback." The king put him in a cage with this on a sign in front, "the Mongol who would destroy my kingdom." This is one of the most compelling Russian films, the first part of a proposed trilogy on the life of Genghis Khan. An Oscar nominee for foreign language film, should have been a cinematography and directing nominee as well.