Actualités

When one thinks of Mongolian cinema, one name immediately springs to mind: Batdorjin Baasanjav, best known for his portrayal of Genghis Khan in the 2004 Chinese-Mongolian TV drama of the same name, as Khan’s father Yesugei Baghatur in Sergei Bodrov’s 2007 biopic ‘Mongol’, and as Guan Yu in John Woo’s Three Kingdom’s era epic from 2008 ‘Red Cliff’. A descendent of Khan himself through his second son Chagatai, the word legendary seems all-too befitting for his very embodiment of his roles, delivering a wholly believable yet captivating performance time and time again. On paper then, it would seem to be the perfect casting choice for Tsahir, leader of one of Khan’s ten-men military units (or aravt) in Jolbayar and Shagdarsuren’s wonderfully shot film retelling this particular legend. Baasanjav aside, does ‘Legend of the Ten’ hold up in the emergence of Mongolian film-making? Short answer: yes, it does.