The Two Horses of Genghis Khan (2009) User Reviews

Important film

[EmilianoGrecco · 7/10 · 27 March 2016]

We follow Urna on her quest to repair her grandmother's instrument, an old morin khurr

Engraved on the head of this morin khurr, are incomplete verses from the ancient and forgotten song The Two Horses of Genghis Khan.

Even though it has its flaws (it might be a bit slow for some and the Spanish subtitles I found weren't that good) it is worth a watch.

Besides being beautifully shot in Mongolian landscapes it connect us with the importance of dreams, family, nature, memory, tradition and identity in a sweet and moving way.

The past shouldn't be forgotten because it is part of what we are now.

A rare view into unique circumstances

[sjogro · 8/10 · 15 October 2021]

Technically/structurally the film isn't very special or great but the story and the unique content is, with the characters and scenery that make it so. Very cute and charming. I love the music, the horsehead fiddle and mongolian singing are some of the deepest rooted earthly sounds I've ever heard, so beautiful. It's as if the landscape is speaking. This film brings it well, the preciousness of disappearing beauty of old human traditional life.

Beautifully shot

[YaumingYMC · 9/10 · 9 April 2013]

I loved this film. It was beautifully filmed - and the cinematography of the Mongolian grassland is breathtaking. And I found Urna's odyssey to repair her grandmother's Mongolian violin, destroyed by the Communists, to be very moving.

What I did find annoying is that there is the DVD release is only subtitled in German. The producers were too lazy or short-sighted to include subtitles for English or any other major language!!!! Unbelievable.

I've been waiting 4 years for the subtitled version to be released. But I fear it will be in utter vain.

Finest Asian Documentary Ever Made - The Two Horses of Genghis Khan

[arthur_tafero · 9/10 · 29 July 2023]

Byambasuren Davaa does a magnificent job as the writer and director of this simple, but monumental work about Mongolia. In my opinion, this, not any of the nominees for 2009 for either category of documentary or mainstream film, was the best film from that year. Urna Chahar-Tugchi gives a once-in-a-lifetime performance as a woman who seeks to reclaim part of her past stolen by the Cultural Revolution. In this sense, the film has some parallels to "The Red Violin" which had been made about ten years earlier.

But make no mistake; this film is completely unique, and at a hundredth of the budget of The Red Violin, is a master work of art. Urna's smile can light up an entire valley at times; and her face is the epitome of the Mongol woman in her prime. The hour and a half went by so fast, I thought there was a glitch in the computer, but it just blew by, like the unforgiving winds of the hills of Mongolia. There are so many breathtakingly beautiful scenes within the film that they are too numerous to mention. My favorite is Urna lying in the tall grass as sunrise approaches; too beautiful for words. There are also several scenes of Mongolian cowboys, the finest horsemen in the history of the world. Even the children are expert horsemen. The music is sumptuous; and must be heard to be appreciated. It conveys the sadness of the hills and the eventual decline of the Mongolian Empire. It is clear from this film that all Western American Indians are derived from these hills as well; when Eastern migration of tens of thousands of years in the past went across the short land mass between Asia and Canada. These migrations are well-documented by several prominent anthropologists. Teepees, beating drums while dancing around a fire, and several other unmistakable similarities of the American Indian to these Mongolian hill people will convince you that these anthropologists are on the money. The twenty shades of green will numb your senses of beauty as well. No landscape in the world is as enthralling as the Mongolian hills. Do not miss this film if you love nature, music, and human emotion.