Kuno Becker, Jason Scott Lee, Jay Hernandez, Ayana Yesmagambetova
Directed by Ivan Passer and Sergei Bodrov
Rated R
Opens Friday
Borat may not exactly have done wonders for the international perception of Kazakhstan, but it’s not likely that the expensive (by Kazakh standards) historical epic Nomad is going to help matters much. While Borat portrayed Kazakhs as sister-loving, gypsy-fearing backwoods cretins, Nomad certainly has a more noble depiction of the people of the steppe, focusing on the historical events that united the disparate Kazakh tribes to fend off the invading Jungar hordes in the early 18th century. Meant to be sweeping and inspirational, Nomad is instead lurching and laughable, with terrible writing, awkward acting and clueless direction.
It’s also a shameless ploy to attract Western audiences, starting with its casting of Mexican star Becker as Mansur, the prophesied savior of the Kazakh people who later became the leader known as Ablai Khan. Never mind that Becker looks about as much like a Kazakh as Sacha Baron Cohen does—he’s a recognizable, marketable face, as are American actors Hernandez (as Mansur’s best buddy/romantic rival) and Lee (as the mystical teacher who trains the two), who don’t look the parts, either, but are around to appeal to international moviegoers.
At least they speak English, while the rest of the actors are dubbed, poorly, for the film’s American release, and given dialogue that would sound flowery and absurd in any language. “You have the scent of the moon,” Mansur tells his beloved during a “tender” scene. “Does the moon have a scent?” she asks. Um, good point.
There is a bit of unintentional humor like that here and there, but mostly the speeches are bland and flat when they should be rousing, and the characters are pretty much interchangeable. Even the battle scenes, with their dozens of extras, are boring and uninspired and largely bloodless. The nature of the conflict between the two societies is never clear, and there is far too much down time in between badly staged fights. Instead, we get lots and lots of shots of people riding horses from one place to another. Like the movie, they never seem to get anywhere. –Josh Bell