By the Will of Genghis Khan

I reviewed the film By the Will of Genghis Khan. It's a Russian made film. The story begins with a young Genghis Khan and leads into his conquering of lands and people. I was looking for a film about Khan that was fairly accurate that I could show to my students. I was disappointed because the film begins with inaccuracies. Information I read about Khan said that after his father died he and his mother and brothers were forced to scavenge for food and even wound up eating rats. The movie totally glossed over the hardship that befell the family after the father's death. Another fact that was altered in the movie was about the death of Khan's half-brother. The information I read said that Khan killed his older half-brother because the older brother bullied Khan and his little brother. In the movie Khan kills the brother of the girl he's supposed to marry when he grows up. For me, the movie never really showed what Khan's motives were for conquering and taking over lands. There's also a subplot about Khan and a childhood friend who wind up being enemies. Even with the subtitles, the movie was a bit confusing for me. Unfortunately, I can't use much of the film for my students. It's too historically inaccurate for my taste. However, I can use it to show my students what the land looked like during the time of Genghis Khan. I'm not sure where the movie was filmed (I'm sure it said it in the end, but everything was in Russian). One of the questions my students will answer when learning about Genghis Kahn will be how the land helped him in his victories. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this film, it was kind of slow and boring and not really accurate. I guess I'll have to stick to documentaries about Genghis Khan.















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