Mongol: Genghis Khan, David Davis and pre-charge detention

I watched the Kazakh film ‘Mongol’ on Friday night and it offered two hours of arrestingly ‘epic’ film making. A mythical interpretation of the history of Genghis Khan’s rise to prominence form the subject matter for the movie. Headstrong son of a tribal leader, Temudjin survives being repeatedly imprisoned, and fuelled by a combination of pride, tradition, love and faith, progresses to unite the various warring Mongol tribes.

Aul' Genghis, as depicted in Russian director Sergei Bodrov’s film, is a cracking chap and an exponent of law, fair wages for his employees and the progression of women’s role in society. He is a dutiful husband and father, only compromised by his frequent absences and an inability to impregnate his wife (although he happily accepts all her offspring from other liaisons). I rather got the impression that if Genghis were around today, he’d take a dim view of 42 day pre-charge detention.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Football fever in Russia

Russia Blog is getting excited about Euro 2008. Indeed it is drawing parallels between Guus Hiddink and Peter the Great in terms of successful Russo-Dutch exchanges of expertise. Meanwhile, in Moscow, fans have been taking to the streets in order to celebrate the national team’s achievements.
Read more

Guest Post: Leave our Alain alone

By itwassammymcnallywhatdoneit As we know well in Northern Ireland, predicting someone’s views on a range of issues doesn't require a crystal ball, just a clue as to their background - their name, the school they attended or their address. Once you have sniffed out those details, you can identify their tribe and you can then have a fair stab at working out what they think. Of course, tribalism is not just confined to Ulster and tribal loyalties are not always that straightforward. Take Monsieur Alain Rolland for example, born and raised in Ireland but with a French father. For many Welsh rugby fans such continental lineage was proof positive of his preference for the land of his father, Wales's opponents in the rugby world cup semi-final and of course explains his 'outrageous' decision to send off the Welsh captain Sam Warburton. When England were knocked out of the world cup, by perhaps the bitterest of their many 'old enemies' France, Wales found the...
Read more