Central Asia, the 13th century: Undzhu (Dokhdurbek
Kydyraliyev) has been a scout in Genghis Khan's (Bolot
Bejshenaliyev) army for years, while the Mongol conqueror expanded his realm
all across Asia - but now he wants to conquer the Kipchaks' country as
well, and sbeing of Kipchak origin, Undzhu abandons his allegiance to
the Khan to warn his own people. However, back home, Undzhu is seen as a
traitor because of his years with Genghis Khan, and since on a political
level the Kipchaks' ruler Kairkhan (Tungyshbai
Dzhamankulov) is more interested in one day taking Baghdad
than any threat from the East, Undzhu is incarcerated and
brutally tortured to be silenced. Undhu's repeated attempts to escape only
end in failure, and when he eventually does manage to escape and hooks up
with a tribe of nomads, he is essentially a broken man. Then though,
Genghis Khan's army really invades Kipchak country, and Undzhu is put in
Kairkhan's employ as a military advisor - yet everybody still suspects him
to be a traitor, and all too often, his advice is simply ignored ... until
Genghis Khan actually takes the capital of Kipchak country, makes Kairkhan
his prisoner and subjects him to tortures similar (and similarly
humiliating) to those Undzhu was treated to before killing him forcing boiling water down his throat. Undzhu has survived the ordeal
and leaves the battlefield not only a free man but also with the knowledge
he and he alone was right all along - but what good will that do him with
his people annihilated by the Khan? On a pure visual level, The
Fall of Otrar is stunning, a film that's influenced in equal parts by
Sergei Eisenstein, Akira Kurosawa and John Ford without having become a
mere quoting machine, a film that's strong on atmosphere that's
accomplished by amazing sets and (barren) landscapes and an expert change
between sepia tinted black-and-white and faded colour material that give
the film its other-worldly looks. And then there are these battle and
torture scenes that are incredibly violent without seeming
sensationalistic - in other words, this was made by a filmmaker who knew
what he was doing, and knew it incredibly well. And yet, The Fall of
Otrar is a less than perfect film, on one hand, at about 2 3/4 hours,
it is too long for the story it's trying to tell, after a time, certain
scenes (especially some torture scenes) seem to just exist to hammer a
point home yet again and thus seem awfully repetitive, and narrative-wise,
the whole film seems to go into a loop. This also causes the film to lose
its dramatic buildup and instead become just a series of atrocities at
times ... and while watching on, one can't help but get the feeling that
many of the scenes were just added to give the film an epic flair (and
let's be honest, when if ever was the last time you have seen an epic of
less than 150 minutes of running time) - which not only in my eyes is the
wrong way to go if it stands in the way of decent storytelling. In all,
the film still is impressive, but not half as good as it could have been
if trimmed by about an hour of running time and focused more on actual storytelling than epic approach ...
|