“The Legend of Tomiris” is an entertaining Kazakhstani historical and action-packed film. It’s exciting to see more and more of this historical action films from other countries being created and I look forward to seeing more. A film definitely worth checking out!
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TITLE: The Legend of Tomiris
FILM RELEASE DATE: 2019
DURATION: 155 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, 16:9 widescreen, Turkish/Russian/Kazakh 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Well Go USA Entertainment
RELEASED: September 20, 2020
Directed by Akan Satayev
Written by Aliya Nazarbayeva, Timur Zhaksylykov
Executive Producer: Anna Chakirtova, Aliya Nazarbayeva
Co-Executive Producer: Svetlana Nam
Music by Renat Gaisin, Alim Zairov
Cinematographer as Khasan Kydyraliyev
Edited by Galimzhan Sanbayev
Casting by Zhaina Avdieyeva
Production Design by Kuat Tleubayev
Costume Design by Assel Shalabayeva
Starring:
Almira Tursyn as Tomiris
Adil Akhemetov as Argun
Erkebulan Dairov as Harasp
Berik Aytzhanov as Kurtun
Satybaldy Azamat as Kavaz
Aizhan Lighg as Sardana
Ghassan Massoud as Cyrus
Starring Kazakhstan standouts Almira Tursyn (as Tomiris), Adil Akhmetov (as Argun), and Aizhan Lighg (as Sardana)––who perform all of their own action-packed stunts––THE LEGEND OF TOMIRIS tells the real life story of the great queen who, along with her female warriors, united divided nomadic tribes to create a powerful nation capable of repelling the likes of Persia. According to historical accounts, Tomiris and her army very likely served as the downfall of Cyrus the Great, who was foolish enough to challenge the peoples of the Great Steppe and their inimitable leader.
The legend of Queen Tomiris, the leader who reigned over the Massagetae and how she led a nomadic confederation to defeat Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire.
And now this historic tale has been made to a film by Kazakhstani film studio “Kazakhfilm” titled “The Legend of Tomiris” and will now be available on Blu-ray + DVD courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
“The Legend of Tomiris” is a film that focuses on various stages of Tomiris life and is based on material written by ancient Greek historian, Herodotus (who wrote about ancient empires of Babylon, Egypt, Persia and the Ancient Greeeks).
The daughter of Spargap, the ruler of Massagetae. Spargap loved his daughter and raised her to be a warrior. To fight with a sword, to use her bow and arrow and if anything, young Tomiris did what her father had wanted unconditionally.
One evening, Tomiris has a nightmare. As she awakens from the nightmare, she goes to her father and not long after, her father and other soldiers of the Massagetae are ambushed and slaughtered, but fortunately her father was able to have one of his soldiers take Tomiris and head for safety.
This would lead to a young Tomiris to grow and wanting revenge against those who slaughtered her family.  But the road to revenge is marked with tragedy, but how will that tragedy help shape Tomiris for the future.
“Tomiris” is based on the writings of Herodotus and sharing the life of how a young girl who was driven out of her land by those who massacred her family to become the Queen and ruler of Massagetae.
The film is rather interesting because you watch various stages of Tomiris life and how she became a proud warrior and Queen (I wish I could share more, but that would be spoiling a certain time period regarding Tomiris).
Part of the problem is that the film is loosely based on the interpretations of Herodotus and for the history of Kazakhstan, it’s a much different story than what we see in the film.
For the film, “revenge” is the main reason that drives Tomiris to be what she is starting at an early age. The Kazakstan history is much different as the early revenge storyline is not there.
Again, this is going by the writings of the Ancient Greek historian, Herodotus. And for the most part, going by that plan alone works out fine because it makes for a great war movie and to showcase the strong personality of Tomiris, which was well-performed by actress Almira Tursyn.
But there are times where the film gets a bit to mushy to the point it wasn’t even necessary (this is pertaining to Tomiris and Argun asking Tomiris who she will marry), while they are fighting to the death. As if one will stop fighting to ask the Queen of who she will marry during a major battle. Perhaps this was a way to incorporate a marriage proposal because they couldn’t shoot a few minutes more outside of the battle and shoot a more logical scene of Argun asking the queen about who she wanted to marry? Who knows.
There are other discrepancies to other historical documents, especially in regards to Tomiris’ son and also who was responsible for taking on Cyrus the Great in combat.
Nevertheless, I don’t think many audiences will care about the historical accuracy or inaccuracies considering there are various sources who have different stories in regards to Tomiris and the important people of her life.
But I will say the film is worth watching. I enjoyed it for what it is, the action sequences and also opening my eyes to the ruler of Massagetae and what she had accomplished.
As for the Blu-ray, picture quality is very good, audio is crystal clear, while special features are nil. So, it’s a barebones Blu-ray release.
For the most part, “The Legend of Tomiris” is an entertaining Kazakhstani historical and action-packed film. It’s exciting to see more and more of this historical action films from other countries being created and I look forward to seeing more.
A film definitely worth checking out!
PURCHASE THIS BLU-RAY ON AMAZON