Kirpianuscus a religious film. that is the point who, I suppose, explains it in a wise manner. not as manifesto against Mongols, not as a story about Russia. only as story of sacrifice and faith. sure, it is only a point of view. sure, it is a too subjective film and that is not a real surprise. because the cruelty, the week leaders, the powerful women, the story of Alexey and the moral victory are pieces of a portrait who defines way for assume the past. looking historical accuracy it is bizarre work. because the atmosphere, the tale, the mission of an hierarch are only important things. and, sure, the victory of Orthodox Church against an ambiguous evil. a film who could be useful for understand Russia out of definitions.

jbhiker-706-512756 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.

ThomasJeff 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.

deedeemoll If you are an American,as I am, you know then, that our knowledge of Russian history is lacking, unless you went for an advanced degree at some college. Therefore, I found the film to be totally engrossing. The cinematography, costumes, including the jewelry, the sets,and the translations from Russian and from what I gather, the Mongolian language, were all very excellent. I am not familiar with this director who is merely trying to convey a moment, or a slice of historical commentary,in a stylized way. I don't think meant for the Western Hemisphere either. As visually stunning as "The Russian Ark" and easier to follow the dialogue.