This RMB 70 million (US$ 11million), state-approved blockbuster, starring Korean actress Park Ye-Jin and Japanese actor Nakaizumi Hideo, unfolds during Genghis Khan’s final conquest in the early 13th century. After bringing most of Eurasia under his rule, the warrior became obsessed with immortality. To that end, he summoned Jeonjingyo ascetic Chuji, apious man devoted to the poor and the good of the people. He advises Khan that the best way to immortality is by renouncing violence ? ending his wars. So Genghis Khan does. Chuji is a real daoist priest that has also appeared in the popular martial arts novel Jin Yong’s <The Brave Arche>. The film is a cinematic rendering of the collision between a saint and a conqueror utilizing dynamic martial arts choreography, vast Mongol plains and spectacular mise-en-scene to emphasize the dignity of human life. The last scene where Genghis Khan is moved to end the conflict could be read as a veiled desire by China to insert the Mongol hero into its historical fabric, as it possesses the same sophisticated melody as the reverent. (KANG Naeyoung)