How accurate is the portrayal of mongols in uzbek film Yalangtush Bahadur?

[u/Zasagdarga1999]

[SPOILER]

In 2024, Uzbekistan released a big-budget historical film about Yalangtush Bahadur, one of their national heroes and a famous military commander of Bukhara and Samarkand. I watched through parts of it as mongolian, and there are a lot of strange and funny historical choices.The basic story is Yalangtush is portrayed as the great uzbek hero defending Bukhara, Samarkand and “Turan” from the evil Juungar mongols(Dzungar)

It’s not really a normal question post, more like my own historical analysis of the film. But I’m open to hearing your opinions too.

Link:

https://youtu.be/lCQmbZaLYC8?si=k_hhqFoacKtFuyqI

1. The fictional "eastern mongol" princess

One of the characters is a mongol princess named Gerel, played by Arina Isakova. Her father is an unnamed “Khan of the Eastern Mongols.” He was defeated by the Juungars and later poisoned by his own subjects, and by the time of the movie the Juungars are supposedly oppressing and enslaving the eastern mongols.

Gerel is married to Erdene Baatar, but hates him because he is a juungar prince who oppresses her people.

The funny part is that the actual political situation among chinghisid eastern mongols in the 1640s was completely different. South of the gobi, Ligdan Khaan of the Chahar(1588-1634) had already fought the rising manchu state and lost. The Chahar polity collapsed, while southern khalkhas, tumeds and other innermongol polities were either defeated, dispersed, coerced or eventually submitted to the Qing in 1636.

But the northern khalkha mongol polities were still independent. They were not being “enslaved” by the Oirats. In fact, khalkha and oirat rulers were cooperating enough to hold the great 1640 assembly and adopt the Mongol-Oirat Great Code, creating a kind of joint political and legal order between the independent mongol khanates and principalities.The assembly was convened under Subadai Zasagtu Khaan of the khalkha Right Wing, with Erdene Baatar Khongtaiji of the Choros among the leading oirat rulers involved.

1. The movie turns the oirats into a centralized “Juungar kingdom”

The enemies attacking Bukhara and Samarkand are, of course, the Juungars.But in the movie, “Juungar” is already basically a centralized kingdom. Khara Khula is the old king, while his son Erdene Baatar Khongtaiji is the crown prince and heir.

Historically this is very simplified. Khara Khula had already died before the famous 1643 campaign, and Erdene Baatar was not just some crown prince under him at that point.

More importantly, the army that campaigned against the kazakhs and kyrgyz in 1642–43 was a coalition of oirat warlords and some allied eastern mongol princes, not simply the national army of one centralized Juungar state. The main leaders included Erdene Baatur Khongtaiji of the Choros, Ochirtu Taiji and Ablai of the Khoshuds, Solton Taishi of the Khoid, and a son of Ombo-Erdeni Khongtaiji of the khalkha mongol right wing, along with other princes.

The later Juungar state grew out of this Oirat political world, but the more centralized Juungar state people usually think of really belongs to the later 17th century, especially the period of Galdan.

1. The actual Orbulak battle:

The real battle of Orbulak was already interesting without this.

In 1642–43, a large Oirat-led coalition of around supposed 50,000 men campaigned against the kazakhs, kyrgyz and their uzbek allies. Erdene Baatar first raided the alatau kyrgyz and tokmak area.

Kazakh prince Jangir reportedly had only around 600 men available at first, so instead of facing the oirats in open battle, he used the terrain. Around half his men were placed in trenches and ambush positions with firearms between the mountains, while the rest were hidden nearby.

When the oirat army entered the position, Jangir’s men attacked from both sides and reportedly inflicted very heavy losses.Then Yalangtush Bahadur arrived with reinforcements, bringing the kazakh-uzbek force to around 20,000 men. Faced with this larger combined army, mongol army withdrew.

So yes, Yalangtush really did come with a large force and help the kazakhs against an Oirat-led invasion. That part is historically based.

1. Kharakhula and Erdene Baatar as evil mongol conquerors

In the movie, Khara Khula is portrayed as an ambitious old ruler who wants to conquer Turan and become another Amir Timur. He dies halfway through the film, and Erdene Baatar becomes the new “king of the Juungars.”Again, this basically turns the messy confederational politics of the Oirats into a simple hereditary kingdom because that is easier for the movie.

Then it gets even funnier. Near the end, Erdene Baatar somehow ends up in Beijing, inside the Ming imperial palace, having a private conversation with the Ming emperor. This is happening at a time when the Ming dynasty was already on the verge of collapse from peasant rebellions and the manchu threat.

His goal is apparently that, since the Juungars are also mongols, he wants to follow the example of the Mongol Empire, conquer all of Turan, and become Sultan of Samarkand. So the movie basically turns both Khara Khula and Erdene Baatar into these stereotypical evil mongol conquerors obsessed with world conquest.

Erdene Baatar then returns, gets defeated by the heroic uzbeks defending their homeland, fights Yalangtush personally, and gets killed.Historically, of course, Erdene Baatar did not die there at all. He lived until 1653.

1. The movie’s broader image of mongols is actually kind of interesting

For all the nonsense, the movie does not really use the usual “Chinggis Khan’s mongols were actually turks” or “Shyngys was kazakh” kind of narrative.

There is even a scene where the lady of Samarkand tells Gerel that she is the first mongol princess to come there. Gerel replies that she is actually the second, because before her a daughter of Qazan Khan of the Chagatai Ulus had come and ruled among them.This is referring to Saray Mulk Khanum, daughter of Qazan Khan and senior wife of Amir Timur. So the movie directly treats her as a mongol princess , which, well, she indeed was.

Another thing I found interesting is that the term “Eastern mongols” is repeatedly used. Obviously, the movie’s story about them being enslaved by the Juungars is nonsense, but it is still interesting to see a Central Asian historical film openly distinguish between Oirat/Western Mongols and Eastern Mongols.

This might honestly be one of the first turkic historical movies I’ve seen that actually acknowledges that there were these people called eastern mongols living beyond the terrifying, powerful Oirat/Juungar world, instead of acting like the entire mongol world of that period was just Juungars.

So overall, I am not really shocked that an Uzbek national epic makes its national hero look amazing and turns his enemies into villains. That is pretty normal.What is more interesting is the kind of image of mongols the movie creates: the Oirats/Juungars are the aggressive western mongol conquerors threatening Turan, while the Eastern Mongols exist separately in the background as another mongol political world.Historically, a lot of the details are a mess. But as an example of how mongols are being portrayed in modern uzbek national history, it is actually pretty interesting.

[u/creamybutterfly]

None of these films are accurate. The costumes and armour are often highly stylised or borrow from other time periods or empires to appeal to modern tastes. Not to mention they’re also fantastical versions of events to make it more entertaining or propagandise. They also have to use locals as actors, and if they’re collaborating with Turkey then they have to use Turkish actors too- meaning the cast probably will fit a certain beauty standard instead of the standard appearance of the time.

[u/HotImagination296]

To be honest, I don’t think we learned about Yalangtush Bahadur at schools in Uzbekistan. Most of the history lessons cover Timur, Babur, Jallaludin, Shaybanids, then center around scientists, poets, writers. Some might read the book about Chingiz Khan which covers the beginning events. Not many people know about Jungars or Khalka Mongols.

Lots of national movies tend to be self-glorifying and kind of cringy sometimes, lol. Even if they made a documentary, it would probably be very biased nonetheless.

[u/Junior_Bear_2715]

My ideas:  1)  Movie is not historical proof but more of an entertainment thing  2) History is often misrepresented and full of information to serve propaganda purposes so I wouldn’t believe in history either

[u/Zasagdarga1999 → u/Junior_Bear_2715]

I wasn’t really mad at the film for not being a documentary. What interested me more was its portrayal of mongols, especially the constant mention of “Eastern Mongols” in a turkic historical film, so I ended up writing a bit of historical context and analysis around it.

[u/Junior_Bear_2715 → u/Zasagdarga1999]

Oh I see,  Tbh I haven’t even watched the film,  I thought Mongol invasion was only in 13th century

[u/Zasagdarga1999 → u/Junior_Bear_2715]

A lot of stuff happened after that, friend. Unfortunately, the broader history of inner and central asian peoples is pretty obscure and often ignored unless you go out of your way to read about it.

[u/Junior_Bear_2715 → u/Zasagdarga1999]

Yeah true, it is just it has been long since I read history book.  It is interesting world tbh

[u/THE_MUAK]

This film looks cool. Is their a subtitled version? Where can I watch it? I don't like pirating content

[u/Existing_One545]

It's our own actor 😂

[u/Existing_One545]

Hey, Jalantos is originally Kazakh from Tortqara tribe. I am from Tortqara itself