The Horde (2012)

People are voting emotionally.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie was paid for by the church so that the basic plot holds itself true to the living of saint Alexius of Moscow. Still the director managed to make the best out of it, to pack it together with a lovely tale about an overlooked page of Russian history: the impending collapse of the Golden Horde. And rotting it starts from the head, with the uncouth assassination of khan Tini Beg by his brother Jani Beg.This is a refreshing view for historical cinema. Hitherto the Horde was never given any lines of dialogue. You might have seen Andrey Rublev by Tarkovsky: they raze a city to the ground and ride away. In Eisenstein's Nevsky they're also shown to be an amorphous sinister outside force which can intervene on someone's behalf in Russian politics but is never doing anything on their own. They've been hitherto shown as unspeakable savages, as the Borg, as the zerg but never as dramatic characters, as yet another wave of brutal Russian statesmen, akin to the Bolsheviks or to Ivan the Terrible's thugs. The movie dispels the myth the Tatar Yoke was felled by the Russians in the Grand Standing on the Ugra river. You're shown it instead has removed itself, decades in advance, in a painfully similar manner to so many other political entities on the Russian soil.An interesting moment lost on foreign viewers is usage of language in the film. It is amusing to see some obscure Central Asian language being the prestige dialect, the lingua franca, to all of the Russians. Today it's the other way round.

I give one snot to the reviewer here who claims to be a history buff. You really need to spend more time reading. I indeed found this to be a true depiction of the declining life of the Tatars (a.k.a. Golden Horde). They had already climaxed as a civilization and were just a short time from total defeat by the Russians. Thank goodness for that! What a perfect time to tell the story of a priest and his journey of faith. I found the writing of this screenplay to be amazing in its depth and the film itself visually striking. One of the best films I have ever seen out of Russia. A big hit at the Moscow film festival, you just cannot stop watching.

For the record, I'm not Muslim or Tatar or anything like that. But this movie was disgraceful. The whole movie seems like a youtube video made by amateurs who want to portray some sort of evil group of humans--who act anything BUT human. Just killing random people, torturing people, etc. etc.There isn't a fight scene in the whole movie. So don't expect a war movie, from something called "The Horde".Just shows a fake story about how awful life is like under the Golden Horde.Even the Russian-expert hired to tell the director/writers about Golden Horde history, condemned the movie and said this is just a sickening evil portrayal of the Golden Horde and has nothing to do with reality.It's as if the Russian director thought about how he could make Christians look good and how he could make Tatars look like inhumane animals. This was his goal and this is what he portrayed in his film.It was incredibly boring and a waste of my time.

We don't need silly superhero, fantasy or alien monster movies when close examination and depiction of history is all that's needed. Indeed there are plenty of thrilling tales of yesteryear found in all parts of the world that make far better stories than magic rings, space travel and kryptonite. I'll take Saint Alexius over Wolverine any day. And, by golly, you may learn something too! I know that I'd take my chances with a host of Hollywood demons before attempting to cut a deal with the the Mongolians who comprise the Horde. But I'm clowning around too much. This is just a well shot, paced, acted and directed film. Especially remarkable about THE HORDE is the ambiguous treatment given Saint Alexius' "miracle"; i.e., maybe it's the strength of belief and maybe it's just dumb luck. Honorable mention must also be awarded the English translation - no small feat given the potential pitfalls. My recommendation: THE HORDE is an under-rated gem. Bonus recommendation: If reincarnated avoid at all costs Eastern Europe circa 14th century.