When we first meet Gerel, the Mongolian single parent main protagonist of our story, she’s filled with so much hatred that it’s made her fanatical. Her grief after losing her husband working in a mine turned into an anti-Chinese fury. Gerel even forms her own nationalist group under the name “Bright Swastika”, the swastika being an old Mongolian symbol before the Nazis adopted it, as she feels other groups have not gone far enough in their efforts. Bright Swastika targets illegal brothels, not out of hatred of prostitution per se, but more out of a driving need to ‘keep the Mongolian bloodline pure’ as these houses mainly service Chinese nationals.

Meanwhile, at home, Gerel’s son Temuulen, has almost become an afterthought of his mother’s enraged focus. The seven-year-old doesn’t even know his father has passed away as Gerel cannot stomach telling him. The film covers the following 7 years of their lives (taking a couple of gaps along the way), during which Temuulen encounters various stages of being without his mother entirely, be it for work or other reasons. Eventually, Gerel’s grief fades and she realises the impact her nationalism has had on her family. It’s a very changed Gerel in the final frames of the film when she finally tells her son about her father for the first time.

Well-paced and structured, Daughter of Genghis could have easily been a film that dealt with hatred and fanaticism, but the film evolves as Gerel does. By the end it has the audience, who may be divided at the beginning, applauding the change that has overtaken her. She tells an elder of another nationalist movement that “she can’t even find her swastika anymore”. By then, the audience knows the transformation is finally complete.