Courage know no limit
An historical epic set in 18th-century Kazakhstan, where a young man is destined to unite the country's three warring tribes.
Genre(s): Drama, History, War
Runtime: 112 minutes
Rating: 5.9/10 (1,714 votes)
Release Date: 17 July 2005
Country: France, Kazakhstan
Languages: Kazakh, English
Company: Ibrus
Sound: Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated R for violence.
Director(s): Sergei Bodrov, Ivan Passer
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Producer(s):
Ram Bergman - producer
Pavel Douvidzon - producer
Milos Forman - executive producer
Rustam Ibragimbekov - producer
David Pomier - associate producer
Yan Fisher Romanovsky - production associate producer
Writer(s):
Rustam Ibragimbekov - writer
Cast:
Kuno Becker - Mansur
Jay Hernandez - Erali
Jason Scott Lee - Oraz
Doskhan Zholzhaksynov - Galdan Ceren, the Jungar Sultan
Ayanat Ksenbai - Gaukhar (as Ayana Yesmagambetova)
Mark Dacascos - Sharish
Ashir Chokubayev - (as Ashir Shokibaev)
Zhanas Iskakov -
Almaikhan Kenzhebekova -
Tungyshbai Dzhamankulov - (as Tungishbai Zhamankulov)
Music: Carlo Siliotto
Ram Bergman - producer
Pavel Douvidzon - producer
Milos Forman - executive producer
Rustam Ibragimbekov - producer
David Pomier - associate producer
Yan Fisher Romanovsky - production associate producer
Writer(s):
Rustam Ibragimbekov - writer
Cast:
Kuno Becker - Mansur
Jay Hernandez - Erali
Jason Scott Lee - Oraz
Doskhan Zholzhaksynov - Galdan Ceren, the Jungar Sultan
Ayanat Ksenbai - Gaukhar (as Ayana Yesmagambetova)
Mark Dacascos - Sharish
Ashir Chokubayev - (as Ashir Shokibaev)
Zhanas Iskakov -
Almaikhan Kenzhebekova -
Tungyshbai Dzhamankulov - (as Tungishbai Zhamankulov)
Music: Carlo Siliotto
Posted on: September 21, 2008
October 17th, 2006
I would give this movie 5 rather than 3 if it would be at least intime… When i've seen it in first time it was just what you could waitfrom the work that is based not on the artistic abilities of thedirectors but on the idealistic or i would rather say idiotic habits ofour (Kazakhstan) government… It's a shame, because 'Qazaqfil'm' wasbeen shooting nice movies when it was not honoured by the name ofShaken Aimanov, but it was actually ran by him. The movies like 'KonecAtamana', 'Kyz Zhibek' or even 'Aldar Kose'. But after Mr Aimanov'sdeath the production of quality movies went down almost dramatically in10 years time there were very few films produced. However, in late1980s, 'Assa' was shot, it was a film about first organised crimegroups in the big country, one year later Mr. Rashid Nugmanov shotanother film with the co-staring of the same actor/singer V.Tsoy, atthat time he was already a soviet/Russian rock legend, – the moviecalled 'Igla' (The Needle or something) it was completely new, somebodycalled that period as resurrection or a new Kazakh movie wave.Unfortunately nowadays we do not have a quality movies, our directorsshooting movies on the french and Japanese financial support, and thusmovies are not for the public but for the authors professional critics,some of them take a price on international author movie festivals butthere a very few of them become a business asset products… And againback to our 'nomads'. Such movies usually unpopular because of vastaspects. The same effects was with Nikita Mikhalkov's 'SibirskiCyrilnik' about Russian tsars, that was also shot on parities withforeign partners, i think they were french or maybe British. Nobdyliked it, even in Russian public it become as a main topic of acomedians and comedy shows like 'KVN'. IMHO
December 9th, 2006
"I think it wasn't necessary to put Nazarbaev's words at the end of themovie. It looks like he did it or he is great leader of the past. "
Couldn't agree more on this.
My opinion on the movie itself: Regardless all the negative feedbacks,movie is not bad, BUT, the fact that leading roles were played byforeigner is SO disappointing. It's like they couldn't find good kazakhactors.How is it supposed to increase patriotic feelings among peopleof kazakhstan?? my friends refused to watch this movie due to thisfact. Quality of the movie is very good. Music is startling(and someparts of it sounded so familiar). Some people may like, but it in noway made me feel proud for the movie.
By the way if you'd like to download the movie in Russian go toonefilm.ru they have two versions of the movie, the one that's DVDripis of good quality.
January 28th, 2007
Nomad is no different from American epics. Had the spoken language beenEnglish instead of Kazakh, it would have been impossible to distinguishthis film from movies like Gladiator, Braveheart or Troy. It's just thelatest entry in an overused genre. Still, I enjoyed watching Nomad. Itentertained me for two hours even if I knew where the story was headedto, and that's all I demanded from it.
Like so many other similar flicks, Nomad deals with a tyrant, thepeople he's been tormenting for years, and a "chosen one" who willeventually dethrone him. When he first hears of this, the crueldictator orders that this child be found and immediately killed.Naturally, the attempt fails, and the boy is raised in a remote villageby an old, wise father figure, a character clearly based on theMerlin/Gandalf/Obi-Wan Kenobi blueprint. As the years pass, our hero,named Mansur (Kuno Becker), becomes a skilled warrior, perfectlycapable of leading his rebellious countrymen in battle against the evilmonarch. While preparing for the conflict, Mansur also has to deal withhis feelings for a girl and the effects said romance is having on hislifelong friendship with Erali (Jay Hernandez), a man willing to doanything for his country and, most importantly, his leader and bestfriend.
The themes explored in epics are generally love, loyalty and freedom,and Nomad covers all of them them in a competent but predictable way:anyone who's ever seen this kind of movie will have no trouble figuringout how the various subplots, not to mention the big picture in itself,are going to end. But while it isn't exactly fresh, Nomad is arespectable film, its main quality lying in the visuals: the battlescenes are as great and gorgeous as in a Ridley Scott film, and thesame should be said of the numerous shots concerning the eye-poppinglandscapes. In fact, with so much beautiful imagery (although a bitmore violent than the average Hollywood blockbuster), it's a bit weirdnot to find the Blade Runner director's name among the executiveproducers, which do however include Milos Forman (the man behind thefabulous Amadeus).
So, as usual, style prevails over content, but when it looks so good,why complain? Nomad is a piece of pure, simple, unadulterated fun;that's why I liked it, and the reason genre fans should embrace it aswell.
7,5/10
March 17th, 2007
Other reviewers before me saw this in Kazak language with Englishsubtitles. My review is for the English version which was released in40 US theaters this weekend. Only the greetings were in the Kazaklanguage. Being a fan of Hong Kong flicks, I've seen my fair share ofbad dubbing, and I could not tell that this was dubbed, period! Maybeit wasn't as most of the main actors are American. It was a wonderfullyfilmed historical epic that contains some minor ripoffs from Return toSnowy River, Gladiator and Musa(2001), but those scenes worked verywell. If you're a fan of warriors on horseback this is definitely amust see for you. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be so good, andthe only reason I drove out of my way to see it was because MarkDacascos was in it. He plays a menacing warrior and was definitely castwell as his character! Way to go Mark! The girls in this flick arepretty and their acting is well done! This film is definitely soft onthe eyes and full of epic eye candy. They spent the 40 millionproduction dollars well. The actors' performances were believable eventhe 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 sureJason Scott Lee and Mark helped out with that. But I really didn'tthink the two main heroes were cast well as Kazaks seeing how mosteveryone else in the film at least looked half Oriental including theKazaks. Aside from that, I have no complaints and only praise for thisfoul-language-free and nudity-free sweeping historical epic shot onlocation which is a definite plus in my book!
April 1st, 2007
I knew nothing of this film before I was convinced to see it by afriend who had heard it was a "non-stop epic battle scene frombeginning to end". That couldn't have been further from the truth. Thiswas one of the most boring, poorly written, amateurishly directed,horribly acted films I've ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes upon.I'd rank it up there with the movie I consider to be the worst film ofall time… Battlefield Earth. There basically is no story, it's hardto believe that the makers of this film thought that this cheesy soapopera crap would be taken seriously as actual historic fact. It alsofeatures some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard… like this littlegem… Guy tells girl "You smell like the moon.". Girl replies "Whatdoes the moon smell like?" OMG! You have to be kidding me! The scenewhere the guy was drawn and quartered got some good laughs from theaudience since it looked so ridiculously cheap and the sound FX of theguy being ripped apart reminded me of someone making a fart sound withtheir mouth. If this is playing at a theater near you, avoid it at allcosts. This movie is so bad that I actually made the decision about 45minutes through that I needed to catch up on my sleep… and I did.Awful.
July 29th, 2007
I have seen reviews on here who have compared this movie to othermovies like Gladiator and Braveheart. That comparison is completelyinsane. Nomad is a joke of a movie, and the lead guy Jay Hernandezlooks ridiculous. The previews said "Action sequence after actionsequence" but after watching for 1hr10mins and seeing only 2 short andboring action scenes, i turned this trash off.
Weinstien CO. purchased this film and had the director add more actionand a deeper love story. The love story is lame and the action is evenlamer. This movie is a huge dissapointmant.
If you want a foreign movie thats like Gladiator/Braveheart, then getMusa the Warrior. Nomad is crap.
August 3rd, 2007
I would argue that there weren't many genuinely original concepts,other than simply shedding some light on Kazakh history. Basically alive action, feel-good version of the Prince of Egypt cartoon, tradingEgyptians and Hebrews for nomadic Muslims. But that being said, it wasdecent and crisp.
Filming locations seemed really great, like LOTR – The Two Towerswithout any need for CGI! As for rating/violence, it could have almostbeen PG13 in the US, but I liked this fact. It was a clean-ish filmthat likens back to the spaghetti western. No over-the-top violence,sex, swearing, or embellishing for the sake of a Hollywood audience.While this generally comes off slightly cartoonish, it was refreshing.
As for the language, I would swear that it seemed to be filmed inEnglish and dubbed in Kazakh. In fact, I don't usually mind a dubbedmovie (especially Spanish or Japanese for some reason), but half-waythrough this film, I realized there was an English audio track andswitched it over, and I was more engaged.
The horse work was pretty amazing, I thought.
Again, overall, this film seemed to have all the filming quality of anexpensive Hollywood movie, but brought a niceness that's less common incontemporary film (Note: guaranteed NOT to hold the attention of mostAmerican youth).
August 25th, 2007
The setting, cinematography, and historical period really are unique tomovies that I have seen, and while not on a "cast of thousands" scope,sufficiently epic to provide a thoroughly entertaining film. One canquibble with the acting, and the slightly less than superlative battlescenes but this is a war movie worthy of an entertaining and at leastmoderately educational evening.
I hope we see a lot more movies focusing on the less common historicalperiods and places. It is better to build on a movie like this and seekimprovement than to tear it down over relatively minor drawbacks. Thescenery alone is worth the cost of a rental.
August 25th, 2007
I saw this in passing at the video store. It caught my eye, and afterreading the summary I was hooked. I got it home, and into the DVDplayer and realized it was subtitled. Dread initially came over me, asI generally do not like subtitled movies. However, this is one of thefew exceptions. The movie was fantastic, and after watching it in theoriginal language with English subtitles, I don't think I could everwatch a dubbed version. It was well acted, action packed, andpleasantly surprising. I was very impressed with Kuno Becker, JayHernandez, and Jason Scott Lee in this foreign language film. If youare interested in a Genghis Kahn like film, I highly recommend.
September 4th, 2007
Yeah, right.
I spent the first hour waiting patiently for the movie to take off. Itwas horribly boring, and consisted mostly of people riding randomlyaround the hills with no apparent direction. Then the hero comes intothe picture. Born as an Asian, but when he grew up, he became white.Obviously white. He wasn't even close to passing for Asian. He lookedlike Justin Timberlake. It was extremely distracting, and the story didnothing to help the cause. Pointless battle sequences and lamedialogue. It's an hour and forty five minutes long, and by the end Iwas trying to eat my own face. I watched this because people at thevideo store where I work are always asking me if this movie is anygood. Now I have an answer. It goes something like this: ahem. "NO!GOOD GOD NO! IT'S HORRIBLE! DON'T DO THIS TO YOURSELF! I wouldrecommend another movie, perhaps one that's entertaining."
February 28th, 2010
If who do not interested in historical movie, i wouldn’t recommend,but if you know about history especially Asian or about Genghis khan, i highly recommend to you. it’s pretty nice movie, you will enjoy this film….