Temudjin

After watching two versions of films covering the life of Temudjin, aka Genghis Khan, I noticed two things. The Japanese-Mongolian production seems more like a samurai eiga with Mongolian soldiers. It felt like a candy coated version of history. The Kahzak-Mongolian production was gritter and probably a bit difficult for westerners to handle, but it did cover some of the Western propaganda that painted Temudjin as merely a brutal butcher.

I've always found it interesting that no one will question the brutality of the Christian Crusaders who slaughtered the Muslim and Jewish population of Jerusalem in 1099, after they "liberated" the city from Muslim rule, yet Temudjin is demonized as only a brutal butcher. Indeed, the Mongolians did wage war with brutality, but the Mongolians are painted as the harbingers of death, the devil incarnate... And no one bats an eye in the face of Western brutality starting with the expansion of Portuguese naval power in the 15th century.

Ah whatever...