This film is living proof that only the Russians can truly do Tolstoy justice. Growing up, I thought the 1956 Hollywood adaptation to be the definitive take on his magnum opus chronicling the disastrous Napoleonic invasion of Russia...
But it doesn't come anywhere close to achieving the heights set by Director (and star) Sergei Bondarchuk's glorious 1966 adaptation that cost around 10 million dollars to make and has a running time of over five hours! This is a true masterpiece and (I believe) cements Bondarchuk's legacy as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, definitive in not only its portrayal of the battle scenes (specifically, the great slaughter at Borodino: a 30-minute-long marvel which required over 14,000 extras and was filmed with a series of cameras suspended above the battlefield on telegraph lines) but of the characters as well. 1970's Waterloo proved just how fine an action director Bondarchuk was but this is a far more delicate, sensitive piece, constructed with real care and consideration towards its source material (adapting the greatest novel of all time, Sergei? No pressure! Seriously, this film nearly killed the guy but he kept going and finished it with the help of his darling wife, Irina). The soirées, the music, the female narrative, the cinematography... it's a love letter to not only Tolstoy, but to Russia as a country. This is a real piece of art and it captures the unspoken poetry and mental anguish of Tolstoy's work as no one else has (thus far) been able to. Not one shred of detail is CGI'd and it truly pays off: when the horses are tripped at Borodino as the cannons go off, I nearly cried because it was all so beautiful!
Seriously though, adapting what is considered by many to be the greatest novel of all time is no mean feat but having read a great part of the book myself, I have to say that although he may have dropped a few elements (that the much-loved 2016 BBC adaptation) for the sake of state censorship, Bondarchuk's adaptation hits the nail right on the head:
Pierre Bezukhov is just as he should be: a fat bumbler.
Andrei Bolkonsky is just as he should be: a moody git.
Natasha Rostov is just as she should be: a silly girl.
But the journeys that all these characters go on are just so wonderful and if the man himself could see what Bondarchuk did to his novel, I think he'd clap him on the back and say: "that's my boy!" If I have one criticism, it's that the ending could've been expanded on... as it was was the 2016 adaptatin. It would've been nice to see Bondarchuk's Pierre and Savelyeva's Natasha as the happily married couple that they become... But that's just me!
It's difficult to weight this one up with all the other excellent adaptations (I still love the 1956 version, though Fonda is perhaps a little miscast but still good; 2016 was good fun; don't even get me started on the Anthony Hopkins adaptation... The Count would be spinning in his grave!), but here are the performances I consider to be the definitive standouts in the War & Peace cinematic universe:
Best Pierre- Sergei Bondarchuk
Best Andrei- James Norton (though I personally think Leslie Howard would've made the perfect Andrei)
Best Natasha- Ludmila Savelyeva
Best Maria- Jess Buckley
Best Helene- Irina Skobtseva (or "Mrs. Bondarchuk")
Best Anatole- Vittorio Gassman
Best Dolokhov- Tom Burke
Best Nikolai- Jack Lowden
Best Kutuzov- Oskar Homolka
Best Napoleon- Herbert Lom (for War & Peace, that is... For Napoleon? Steiger will NEVER be surpassed!)
1966's War & Peace remains a true classic of European cinema that (I hope) will bring more people round to not only the works of Leo Tolstoy, but of Sergei Bondarchuk as well. Witness one of the greats adapting one of the greats!
But it doesn't come anywhere close to achieving the heights set by Director (and star) Sergei Bondarchuk's glorious 1966 adaptation that cost around 10 million dollars to make and has a running time of over five hours! This is a true masterpiece and (I believe) cements Bondarchuk's legacy as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, definitive in not only its portrayal of the battle scenes (specifically, the great slaughter at Borodino: a 30-minute-long marvel which required over 14,000 extras and was filmed with a series of cameras suspended above the battlefield on telegraph lines) but of the characters as well. 1970's Waterloo proved just how fine an action director Bondarchuk was but this is a far more delicate, sensitive piece, constructed with real care and consideration towards its source material (adapting the greatest novel of all time, Sergei? No pressure! Seriously, this film nearly killed the guy but he kept going and finished it with the help of his darling wife, Irina). The soirées, the music, the female narrative, the cinematography... it's a love letter to not only Tolstoy, but to Russia as a country. This is a real piece of art and it captures the unspoken poetry and mental anguish of Tolstoy's work as no one else has (thus far) been able to. Not one shred of detail is CGI'd and it truly pays off: when the horses are tripped at Borodino as the cannons go off, I nearly cried because it was all so beautiful!
Seriously though, adapting what is considered by many to be the greatest novel of all time is no mean feat but having read a great part of the book myself, I have to say that although he may have dropped a few elements (that the much-loved 2016 BBC adaptation) for the sake of state censorship, Bondarchuk's adaptation hits the nail right on the head:
Pierre Bezukhov is just as he should be: a fat bumbler.
Andrei Bolkonsky is just as he should be: a moody git.
Natasha Rostov is just as she should be: a silly girl.
But the journeys that all these characters go on are just so wonderful and if the man himself could see what Bondarchuk did to his novel, I think he'd clap him on the back and say: "that's my boy!" If I have one criticism, it's that the ending could've been expanded on... as it was was the 2016 adaptatin. It would've been nice to see Bondarchuk's Pierre and Savelyeva's Natasha as the happily married couple that they become... But that's just me!
It's difficult to weight this one up with all the other excellent adaptations (I still love the 1956 version, though Fonda is perhaps a little miscast but still good; 2016 was good fun; don't even get me started on the Anthony Hopkins adaptation... The Count would be spinning in his grave!), but here are the performances I consider to be the definitive standouts in the War & Peace cinematic universe:
Best Pierre- Sergei Bondarchuk
Best Andrei- James Norton (though I personally think Leslie Howard would've made the perfect Andrei)
Best Natasha- Ludmila Savelyeva
Best Maria- Jess Buckley
Best Helene- Irina Skobtseva (or "Mrs. Bondarchuk")
Best Anatole- Vittorio Gassman
Best Dolokhov- Tom Burke
Best Nikolai- Jack Lowden
Best Kutuzov- Oskar Homolka
Best Napoleon- Herbert Lom (for War & Peace, that is... For Napoleon? Steiger will NEVER be surpassed!)
1966's War & Peace remains a true classic of European cinema that (I hope) will bring more people round to not only the works of Leo Tolstoy, but of Sergei Bondarchuk as well. Witness one of the greats adapting one of the greats!