To my shame, I had not been inside the newly-expanded Eden Court Theatre until last night. It’s quite impressive inside, but still ugly and a sadly lost opportunity from the outside.

I went to see Mongol, a multi-nationally produced film about the life of Genghis Khan. Filmed in China and Kazakhstan, but in the Mongol language, and directed by a Russian, the film looks, feels and sounds like no “western” film, so required a certain suspension of preconceptions of how films should be. Not that it was a difficult watch – the plot jogged along nicely, the acting was excellent, the scenery outstanding, and the battle sequences spectacular.

And it’s not a part of history I know much about, and it’s amazing to think that a relatively unknown part of the world, today at least, gave birth to the largest contiguous empire ever. And according to the Wikipedia links above, it seems the film had some substantial historical accuracy. Hollywood take note.

Easily the best Mongolian film I’ve seen this year.