Orda

If you are an American,as I am, you know then, that our knowledge of Russian history is lacking, unless you went for an advanced degree at some college. Therefore, I found the film to be totally engrossing. The cinematography, costumes, including the jewelry, the sets,and the translations from Russian and from what I gather, the Mongolian language, were all very excellent. I am not familiar with this director who is merely trying to convey a moment, or a slice of historical commentary,in a stylized way. I don't think meant for the Western Hemisphere either. As visually stunning as "The Russian Ark" and easier to follow the dialogue.

This movie was paid for by the church so that the basic plot holds itself true to the living of saint Alexius of Moscow. Still the director managed to make the best out of it, to pack it together with a lovely tale about an overlooked page of Russian history: the impending collapse of the Golden Horde. And rotting it starts from the head, with the uncouth assassination of khan Tini Beg by his brother Jani Beg.

This is a refreshing view for historical cinema. Hitherto the Horde was never given any lines of dialogue. You might have seen Andrey Rublev by Tarkovsky: they raze a city to the ground and ride away. In Eisenstein's Nevsky they're also shown to be an amorphous sinister outside force which can intervene on someone's behalf in Russian politics but is never doing anything on their own. They've been hitherto shown as unspeakable savages, as the Borg, as the zerg but never as dramatic characters, as yet another wave of brutal Russian statesmen, akin to the Bolsheviks or to Ivan the Terrible's thugs. The movie dispels the myth the Tatar Yoke was felled by the Russians in the Grand Standing on the Ugra river. You're shown it instead has removed itself, decades in advance, in a painfully similar manner to so many other political entities on the Russian soil.

An interesting moment lost on foreign viewers is usage of language in the film. It is amusing to see some obscure Central Asian language being the prestige dialect, the lingua franca, to all of the Russians. Today it's the other way round.

The movie is a tough sell. Whom will it appeal: History buffs, religious people or Eastern movie fans? Maybe none of them, maybe all of them. It seems to try to appease a lot of people and might find itself not working for the majority of them. It's an historical epic picture alright, but does it engage the viewer? That's for you to decide.

The action scenes are alright, the pathos/religion aspects of it are bearable too. The performances are really good and the sets/locations are just amazing. Which also brings us to the cinematography. The movie really looks good. But due to the scope of it, it might run a bit too long for some. The pacing seems alright, but might feel to slow to some. It's a tough one to watch at times, but interesting nonetheless

it is a seed. like Tsar who presents a thin slice of history , in an admirable manner but who do not desire to present only a story but a long chain of questions. a beautiful movie - the acting ( Roza Hayrullina and Maxim Sukhanov are the best arguments), precise science of recreated atmosphere and great talent to give impressive images. a film about power and faith, fall and twilight. like an Oriental fairy tale, it presents the clash between worlds and the power of weakness. with a splendid result. it contains violence and cruelty, clichés and , at first sigh, unrealistic moments. but the key is simple - it is a Russian story, seed and not fruit of a way to discover the past as root of present. a real good film. despite reserves .

I have finished this movie, but I have to be honest - I almost didn't. This was not due to bad acting, the acting was good and believable, the atmosphere was even there because of the music and well created props and outfits. But the way this story is told is not really contagious, the dramaturgy hangs itself already quite in the beginning with an unclear plot. Than in the middle part it seems to get it going but it's tedious in many moments due to scenes that were too long and irrelevant. The plotbreak around the end doesn't add anything neccessary to this movie, it seems to start a new story and some minutes later the credits are already rolling. Sadly not a recommendation.