Hi, Today Im going to explain a period epic film
called “Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan”. Spoilers ahead!!
The premise of the movie is set in the year 1172.
The current northwestern Chinese provinces used
to be called the Tangut kingdom, ruled by
the dynasty of the same name. There lived
several Mongolian tribes led by their respective
leaders called “the Khans”. The rivalry between
the tribes and the hunger for power within them
caused several arguments, battles, and deaths.
There are no rules in the world of Mongols
and it is in desperate need of a supreme Khan
to lead and unite the people.
Yesügei is the Khan of a small tribe
in the west. At the beginning of the film, he
is traveling with his men and nine-year-old son
Temüjin to look for a wife for the kid. At night,
they stop at a friend’s tribe to take a rest.
Temüjin is busy tending to his horse when a girl
named Borte approaches him and asks him his name.
Temüjin introduces himself and tells her the
purpose of the trip. On finding out that he is
looking for a bride, Borte confidently
claims that he should marry her.
Temüjin’s father wants to bring home a bride
from a stronger tribe for politics. But upon
his son’s repeated request, Yesügei allows him to
choose someone from the friend’s tribe instead.
Before choosing the girl, Temüjin is asked to
look for one with strong legs because only a
girl with strong legs can keep her man happy.
Temüjin does as told and chooses Borte.
Their marriage is officiated but they can only
be together after five years. Before leaving,
Temüjin promises to return soon and gives
Borte a necklace as a gift to remember him.
Mongol The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007) Watch Online
On the way back to their village, Yesügei and the
men take a rest near an inn. They are cautious
because a few yards away sits the leader of a
rival tribe with his men. Suddenly, the rival Khan
sends his men with a bowl of milk as a sign of
peace. To return the gesture, Yesügei also sends
back a bowl of juice. Yesügei’s right-hand man
suggests that he let the servant drink the milk
first since they cannot trust their enemies.
But Yesügei doesn’t want to lose the opportunity
to make peace because of suspicion. He drinks
the bowl clean and so does the other Khan.
A while later, they continue the journey
but a few minutes in, Yesügei’s chest
starts to hurt. He falls off the horse and
dies. It is clear that the opponents took
advantage of his kindness and poisoned him.
Poor Temüjin goes to his father but his followers
could not care less. It is a tradition for the
people to only follow a strong leader. Now that
their leader is dead, their main concern is to
find a new Khan, not to avenge the old one.
In the following scene, Temüjin and
his mother attend Yesügei’s funeral.
Yesügei owned a lot of cattle and houses
which are taken over by his right-hand man
Targutai. Temüjin’s mother curses him and
claims that her son will kill him one day.
Targutai realizes it is true and makes
it his mission to kill Temüjin. However,
they measure his height which doesn’t reach
the upper part of the wheel of a cart.
According to the traditions, Mongols do not kill
a child which is why Temüjin’s life is saved. But
Targutai promises to return next winter when
Temüjin’s height would have increased.
When winter comes around, Temüjin has no place to
hide. He remembers his father telling him about
God Tengri who will help him in his time of need.
Hence, he goes to the sacred mountain to visit the
holy place. But on the way, he accidentally
falls into a frozen lake and almost dies.
He is rescued by a boy his age named
Jamukha. He and his younger brother
bring Temüjin to their home and give him food.
Temüjin is grateful to the brothers for saving his
life. He offers to be Jamukha’s brother by blood.
They mix their blood in a bowl of milk and drink
it to prove their allegiance to each other.
The following morning, they are confronted by
Targutai and his people who are still looking for
Temüjin to kill him. They abduct him and take him
back to the tribe. But fortunately for Temüjin,
his height hasn’t grown much since the last time
so he has to be held captive until he grows.
A kind old man feeds him every day and helps him
with his injuries. A few days later, they measure
his height again but it still hasn’t grown.
Suddenly, it starts to rain and everyone
goes inside their houses. The old man
takes this opportunity to free Temüjin.
The kid runs for as long as he can with the
wooden plane still stuck around his neck. He goes
to the mountains and prays to god Tengri for help.
Temüjin sees a white wolf beside the
monument of god and seconds later,
the wooden plan is miraculously broken.
The scene changes to 1186. Temüjin has grown up
into an adult but is still on a run from Targutai
and his people. After a years-long search,
they are able to capture him and lock
him in a similar wooden plane. This time,
he has grown enough to match the height reference
so the chances of his survival are low.
Targutai wants to see him beg for his life
but Temüjin, being the proud man he is,
refuses to do so. As a result, Targutai
decides to toture him slowly instead of
killing him in an instant. The old man who helped
Temujin years ago feeds him even now. He begs
Temüjin to spare his life when he returns
to avenge the treatment he is getting.
When it gets dark, Targutai comes to Temüjin
alone and mocks him. Since everyone is busy,
Temüjin takes the opportunity to attack
the opponent and kill him by hitting
him with the wooden plane repeatedly.
After that, he flees from the village and is
safe yet again. Temujin is ready to take his tribe
back and be the Khan, but first, he has to bring
his bride home. He goes to his in-law’s tribe for
the first time since he was nine. Borte has grown
up to become a strong and beautiful woman. She
reveals that she has been waiting for him since
she saw him the last time. Temüjin receives
a coat as dowry and brings Borte with him.
The two go to his mother and sister after several
years. They are welcomed wholeheartedly by the
family. For the next month, they live the life
of their dreams. Temüjin and Borte fall deeper
in love as spouses. But trouble arises when one
day, they are attacked by the Merkit tribe.
Long ago, Temüjin’s father kidnapped his mother
from the Khan of Merkit tribe. He had vowed to
take revenge and is here to steal Borte from
Temüjin. The couple tries running away but
Temüjin is shot with an arrow and Borte is
kidnapped as the wife of the rival Khan.
When Temüjin gets better, he knows he has to
get his wife back but he cannot do it alone.
Hence, he goes to his old blood brother, Jamukha’s
place. Jamukha had grown up to become the Khan of
a powerful tribe. He agrees to help but only after
a year because he is busy with a task at hand.
A year passes in the blink of an eye and
the two set off with their troops to attack
the Merkit tribe. They kill all their men and
rob the place before finding a pregnant Borte
in one of the huts. She has killed a man
whose dead body is lying beside her.
Temüjin immediately claims that the child
is his and takes Borte back. At night,
the troops celebrate the win. By now, Temüjin
has been able to gather a bunch of followers.
They ask him to distribute the robbed cattle and
unlike most Khans, Temüjin keeps only the 10%
for himself and gives the rest to his
troops. He even offers more goods to the
family of the men who died in the battle.
Two of Jamukha’s people see this and decide to
join Temüjin’s tribe. Since the Mongols
are allowed to choose their own Khans,
Jamukha can do nothing about it. But it is
evident that he views this as a betrayal.
In the following scene, Temüjin’s soldiers
see a man trying to steal their horses.
They chase him down and kill him by
accident. It turns out that the thief
was none other than Jamukha’s younger brother.
After the incident, Jamukha makes it his mission
to kill Temüjin, forgetting that he is a brother
by blood. He joins hands with another tribe and
makes an attack on Temüjin’s tribe.
Temüjin knows that his people cannot win
the battle because they are heavily outnumbered.
Still, he sends the women and children away and
makes the men fight with all their might.
Even after killing several opponents,
Temujin is caught in the end.
Jamukha still calls him brother and
urges him to beg for mercy. He doesn’t want
to kill someone who still has strength and
pride left in himself. So instead, he makes
him a slave and sells him to the brokers.
Temüjin and the remaining of his men are made
to walk several miles across the desert to reach
the city that is ruled by the Tangut dynasty.
After that, they are kept in the open for people
to check and buy as they please. A higher official
from the dynasty comes to the market one day and
shows interest in buying Temüjin. His advisor
monk, however, sees Temüjin and can tell he
is not the ideal person to be enslaved.
He thinks Temüjin will be the end of the
entire powerful dynasty. The buyer only
laughs at the statement and buys Temüjin
nonetheless. He is then kept in a cage as a
freak who people can see and make fun of.
The monk visits him every day and begs for
forgiveness. He makes a pact with Temüjin
that if he looks for Borte, Temüjin will not
destroy the monastery when the time comes.
While on the search for Borte in the deserts,
the monk falls unconscious and dies. Luckily,
he is found by Borte who recognizes the necklace
he has as the one she owned for several years.
She figures out her husband is still alive and
goes to the city to look for him. Since Temüjin
is on full display to the people, she doesn’t
take long before finding him. The same night,
she bribes a guard and helps Temüjin flee.
He is surprised to see that his son has grown
a lot and Borte has a second daughter. She
reluctantly had to be with another man to
make ends meet and feed her children. Temüjin
loves her even more for her sacrifices and tells
the little girl that he is her father. The family
of four returns to their home in the countryside
and lives happily for a month. The kids love
their father and play with him all the time.
Then one day, Borte comments that all
Mongols are the same; they steal, rob,
and kill. The comment is minute but it makes
a huge impression on Temüjin. He decides to
leave his family to unify as many tribes as he
can and create rules in the world of Mongols,
even if he has to kill half of the tribes for it.
The three basic rules they have to follow are;
never kill women and children, fight the enemies
till the end, and never betray your Khan.
The scene cuts to 1196. As Temüjin vowed, he has
been able to gather an army of Mongols on his
side, unifying several tribes and making a massive
tribe of his own. The only obstacle in his way to
becoming the absolute emperor is Jamukha, who
also has an army of followers behind him.
Today, the two brothers stand on the battlefield
with their troops for an ultimate fight.
It starts and Jamukha hastily sends the first
batch to fight. Temüjin has planned the entire
war while Jamukha is spontaneous which
causes many of his men to be killed.
After hours of long and hard battle, Temüjin wins
and captures the surviving enemy troops including
Jamukha. The troops are taken in as Temüjin’s
followers instead of being killed. The gesture
makes them thankful and loyal to their new Khan.
The old man who once helped him escape is made
the advisor of the tribe. Now, the only thing
left to do is to make a judgment for Jamukha.
The brothers sit with each other and talk about
how far they have come in life. Jamukha proudly
reveals he would have killed his enemy if
he was in Temüjin’s position right now. This
further proves that he and Temüjin are not the
same because Temüjin allows him to run away.
Out of respect for his brother and the
hustle he has done to create an army,
Temüjin forgives him and lets him go. Then, we see
that Borte, with both her children, has reunited
with Temüjin and lives with him happily.
In the end, it is narrated that in 1206,
Temüjin was made the khan of all Mongols
named the Genghis Khan. As he had promised,
he wiped out the entire Tangut
dynasty and rebuilt the kingdom,
but left the monastery as it is at
the request of the late monk.
In the future, he became the founder
of the entirety of the Mongol empire,
the largest contiguous empire in history.
Thank You.
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