Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia

In honor of Chingghis Khan's birthday, this post will revisit a modern Mongol-watcher's favorite, Johanna D'Arc of Mongolia.  Amazingly, this film from 1989 successfully and mostly respectfully records the tropes of traditional nomadic culture that recur over and over again in subsequent Western filmic representations of Mongolia.

The added layer of the escapist desires of the female protagonists, and the pressures of modernizing civilization from all sides delivers plenty of food for thought. The production values are odd but authentic, and with patience, the viewer is carried along on a marvelous journey.  And there are memorable images along the way, like the one above.

The same dilemmas that were present in 1989 persist today.  Is the Mongolia of the imagination an archetype with relevance for creatures implanted in modern civilization?  Is the archetype a Western construct that prevents a more nuanced view of modern Mongolian from taking hold?  The nearly three hour running length of the film will give the viewer plenty of time to reflect and come to a deeper understanding of these issues.