halfamoon | Picspam: The Women of "Mongol"

Mongol is a 2007 film about the early life of Genghis Khan (Temudgin). It was shot in Mongolia, entirely in the Mongolian language, which alone is enough to qualify as insanely cool. However, what really steals the show for me is the awesome female characters: Temudgin's amazing wife Borte and his tough-as-nails mother Oelun.

Temudgin's mother Oelun is a quietly resilient woman. No matter what life throws at her--her family's fall from grace, her house being burned down around her ears--she never lets herself be defeated for even a moment. She just picks up the pieces of her life and starts putting it back together again.

Temudgin and Borte meet as children. Temudgin is supposed to be on his way to choose a bride from a different, more politically advantageous tribe, but Borte sets her sights on him and boldly tells him, "You should choose me!" Temudgin is so impressed that he tricks his father into letting him choose Borte as his bride.
When he comes back for her when they're older, she's grown up absolutely gorgeous.

Oelun approves of her new daughter-in-law:
"I like you. You're strong, like me."

Borte really is an amazingly strong character. She will willingly endure absolutely anything for her husband's sake, without batting an eyelash. She's also willing to do absolutely anything for her husband's sake, up to and including murder, bribery, and impossible quests. It's not an exaggeration to say that in this movie, Temudgin would be lost without her.