Kazakhstan's entry for this year's Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film is an epic chronicling the rise of Genghis Khan from orphaned boy to bloodthirsty leader of men.

Mongol may not sound like the most appealing prospect - a two-hour, subtitled history lesson filmed on location in China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, which would have been home to nomadic tribes in the 12th century - but Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov knows how to engage his audience.

He focuses on the characters and in particular the relationship between the legendary warrior and his wife, pictured, contrasting the tenderness between the couple with the fiery determination that drives a man to conquer an empire.

The film looks stunning, beautifully photographed by cinematographers Sergei Trofimov and Rogier Stoffers, including some spectacular battle sequences that hint at the hack and slash to come in successive films (this is the first part of a proposed trilogy).

Blessed with a sweeping orchestral score by Tuomas Kantelinen, augmented with authentic Mongolian melodies, Mongol unfolds at a canter for an engrossing two hours.

Dialogue is kept to a minimum, ensuring British audience won't have to wade through a sea of subtitles, relying on Asano - as Temudgin, the man who will become Genghis Khan - and his co-stars to convey their characters' emotions with a lingering, anguished glance.