melonkali IMPORTANT PARENTAL ADVISORY -- IT'S SAFE!!: This is one of the few modern historical epics I'd recommend as "safe viewing" for youngsters old enough to understand it -- maybe late-elementary/early-middle school? If you love history, especially the history of important, ancient areas and peoples of the world, areas that many of us westerners (self included) know too little about, this movie should whet your appetite for learning more about the fascinating, complex, very ancient Steppe peoples. While this movie deals with a national epic of the 18th century, the Steppe peoples who became the Kazakhs have very, very old and rich traditions which are reflected in the actions and understandings of Nomad.I would agree with some other posters that if someone is looking for an American Western Epic set in a completely inappropriate historical context, this movie is not for you. If you think Braveheart and Gladiator were great "historical" movies, appropriate for young children, Nomad is probably not for you.For historians who already have a fair grasp of Kazakh history, this movie might seem a bit over-generalized with too many inaccuracies -- I really don't know, since I don't know Kazakh history, but the movie felt that way to me. I confess to being personally "irritated" with inaccuracies and sweeping generalizations in American Civil War flicks. However, I have to admit that a film encompassing the American Civil War period, a film which was designed to introduce the essence of that conflict to people of other nations (especially non-western nations), would have to take a few liberties with details, particularly if the film was set to run less than twelve hours! I REJOICED that Nomad did not over-emphasize or glorify graphic violence, nor pander to prurient interests -- for me, that says something positive about the modern Kazakh mentality! As one Wikipedia article indicated, Kazakhs in Nomad were shown as extraordinary horsemen. It was only right, then, to see equestrian action sequences that used real horses and competent riders, instead of relying on computer FX. (BTW: Though I didn't examine every instance, the horse bridles/bits/tack that I did observe in Nomad were not even as harsh as popular American "cowboy" tack, and any "suspicious-for-trip-wire" action events I noticed were quickly followed by the horses getting up and walking around "just fine".) I do wish the lead roles had been played by native Kazakhs. But as for the actors in Nomad not looking like Kazakhs -- well, I've never been to Kazakhstan, but internet articles describe Kazakhs as a physiologically diverse people, with complex heterogenous genetic admixtures. Is that not true? As for the movie being badly written or badly acted or "corny" by our standards, umm, I've found that many of us westerners, especially us Americans, often just don't "get" the mindset and artistic expression of other peoples, and so we judge the product as poor, by our standards. But later, usually too late to save face, we discover that the problem was lack of understanding on our part. (I confess to having a humbling history of judging Russian symbolic thinking as "simplistic".) Nomad was a fascinating viewing experience for all of my family. I hope that Kazakhstan, and other areas of the world less-well-known to us westerners (especially to us Americans), will produce MORE films of this caliber, inviting us to see a glimpse of their culture, on THEIR terms, and NOT pandering to OUR embarrassing dumbed-down national aesthetic (as so many of us, sadly, seem to expect).

v-i-p-777 A film I have seen recently that I really liked was NOMAD. It was directed by Talgat Temenov, Sergei Bodrov, Ivan Passer. It stars Azis Beyshinaliev, Jay Hernandez, Mark Dacascos, Kuno Becker, Archie Kao, Jason Scott Lee, Ron Yuan. NOMAD was written by Rustam Ibragimbekov. This film is a historical film set in 18-th century KAZAKHSTAN, where a young boy Abylai (Kuno Becker), who becomes a KHAN (KING) is destined to make one nation from three JUZS (GROUPS) who fought each other and free them from the Jungars. At the beginning the Jungars attack his mother and the Jungars kill everyone. But one man saves his life and teaches him science and how to fight. After that, Abylai (Kuno Becker) becomes a young man and starts to fight against the Jungars. Before he becomes famous the Jungars capture him. But the Emperor of the Jungars makes a deal with him and gives him a challenge. If he wins, he will be free. The challenge is that Abylai (Kuno Becker) has to fight with one warrior but it is his friend who he will kill by mistake. At the end he becomes a KHAN of all KAZAKH people and makes a KAZAKH nation and they fight against the jun gars together and beat them. But NOMAD is not only about war but also about the love between Abylai and a woman. A famous phrase of Abylai in this fight is 'ARUAK'. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe.

jcradio I saw this in passing at the video store. It caught my eye, and after reading the summary I was hooked. I got it home, and into the DVD player and realized it was subtitled. Dread initially came over me, as I generally do not like subtitled movies. However, this is one of the few exceptions. The movie was fantastic, and after watching it in the original language with English subtitles, I don't think I could ever watch a dubbed version. It was well acted, action packed, and pleasantly surprising. I was very impressed with Kuno Becker, Jay Hernandez, and Jason Scott Lee in this foreign language film. If you are interested in a Genghis Kahn like film, I highly recommend.

Deepfried-Egg Other reviewers before me saw this in Kazak language with English subtitles. My review is for the English version which was released in 40 US theaters this weekend. Only the greetings were in the Kazak language. Being a fan of Hong Kong flicks, I've seen my fair share of bad dubbing, and I could not tell that this was dubbed, period! Maybe it wasn't as most of the main actors are American. It was a wonderfully filmed historical epic that contains some minor ripoffs from Return to Snowy River, Gladiator and Musa(2001), but those scenes worked very well. If you're a fan of warriors on horseback this is definitely a must see for you. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be so good, and the only reason I drove out of my way to see it was because Mark Dacascos was in it. He plays a menacing warrior and was definitely cast well as his character! Way to go Mark! The girls in this flick are pretty and their acting is well done! This film is definitely soft on the eyes and full of epic eye candy. They spent the 40 million production dollars well. The actors' performances were believable even the unknowns. My only complaint with this film is the 2 main heroes. You could tell they'd been trained well with sword fighting as I'm sure Jason Scott Lee and Mark helped out with that. But I really didn't think the two main heroes were cast well as Kazaks seeing how most everyone else in the film at least looked half Oriental including the Kazaks. Aside from that, I have no complaints and only praise for this foul-language-free and nudity-free sweeping historical epic shot on location which is a definite plus in my book!