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War and Peace Actor: Sergei Bondarchuk Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Color, Box set Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 403 minutes Studio: Kultur Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2002-10-29 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com Like Tolstoy's novel, this epic-length War and Peace is rough going, but worth the effort. Winner of the 1969 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film and widely considered the most faithful adaptation of Tolstoy's classic, Sergei Bondarchuk's massive Soviet-Italian coproduction was seven years in the making, at a record-setting cost of $100 million. Bondarchuk himself plays the central role of Pierre Bezukhov, buffeted by fate during Russia's tumultuous Napoleonic Wars, serving as pawn and philosopher through some of the most astonishing set pieces ever filmed. Bondarchuk is a problematic director: interior monologues provide awkward counterpoint to intimate dramas, weaving together the many classes and characters whose lives are permanently affected by war. Infusions of '60s-styled imagery clash with the film's period detail; it's an anomalous experiment that doesn't really work. Undeniably, however, the epic battle scenes remain breathtakingly unique; to experience the sheer scale of this film is to realize that such cinematic extravagance will never be seen again. --Jeff Shannon From Description War and Peace is a portrait of Russia and her people, caught up in the swirling and irresistible tides of history during the Napoleonic Era. Director Sergei Bondarchuk's Oscar-winner flawlessly re-creates Tolstoy's epic masterpiece, capturing not only the most minute historical details, but also the emotion, essence, and atmosphere of the classic novel. Hailed as the definitive marriage between literature and film, it took five years to complete, costing over $100,000,000. It is estimated that a film of this magnitude would cost over 1 billion dollars today, making this the most expensive film ever made. In Russian with English subtitles. |
 "Ruscico War & Peace DVD is horribly defective"ZERO STARS. What a dissappointment! The film randomly switches between English and Russian and French dubbing ---sometimes in the same section--- and the subtitles don't always come on in English. I tried it on 2 DVD players so it is quite defective. Judging from some other reviews, other people are experiencing it but for some strange reason they find this acceptable. This is the first DVD I have ever seen which was this screwed up. Too bad----a great movie which I still have only on Beta (Kultur version).  "Cinematic Greatness Not Destroyed by Poor Quality Kultur DVD"I first saw this film on PBS in the '60s and never forgot it. Still hum the waltz theme from the ball scene. Recently I spotted the Kultur DVD set online, practically dropped dead with excitement, and clicked "purchase" without doing any research. It never occurred to me that such a poor quality DVD might be for sale (for $40!!) at major online retail outlets. Some of the scenes in Part I are so dark I can barely make out the image. The sound is a bit scratchy too. I started to wonder if this wasn't videoed surreptitiously in a movie theatre. Apparently the Ruscico version is far superior in quality, if more expensive ($70) and not without its own problems (see other reviews). Also, if you don't own a widescreen TV monitor, you may still prefer this Kultur full-screen version, which avoids the annoying "letterbox" effect -- though of course at the cost of cutting parts of the original image off the screen. Despite its many defects - if you love cinema, BUY THIS FILM. Even the less than ideal audio and visual quality of the Kultur print cannot mask this film's greatness, its eye-popping scope, its dramatic story, its haunting music and memorable imagery. And definitely get a version where you can hear the original actors speaking in Russian (with English subtitles). The majesty of the Russian language is central to this film, and you will feel it even if you don't understand a word. (The occasional Russian overdub of French dialogue is a minor annoyance, nothing more.) If you have read and loved Tolstoy's epic novel, fear not. This film is as faithful to the original as was Peter Jackson's film to Tolkien's trilogy - if not more so (I'm still annoyed that Jackson went for a "Die Hard"-style dispatch of Saruman off Orthanc in Part II, omitting Tolkien's nuanced 'Scouring of the Shire' in Part III.) A lot of reviewers complain about the "psychedelic 60s" filming techniques Bondarchuk used, but I think they misjudge Bondarchuk's over-the-top directorial style, which seems perfectly in tune with the traditional Russian penchant for emotional excess. This is no dry literal retelling of Tolstoy's narrative arc -- it tries to render, in cinematic terms, an impassioned yet faithful account of the emotions of the participants in this drama. If it misses its goal here and there -- you cannot deny the greatness of the very attempt. (Q: Who else but Bondarchuk would or could have made an oak tree into a central character? A: Tolstoy.) A lot of reviewers also dismiss the message of the film as Communist-era propaganda, but I'd say again that that is a misreading of the film, which is patriotic and Russophile only insofar as is the original novel. (PS: the Commies didn't invent love of the Russian fatherland.) Even in its diminished condition (memo to Spielberg: How about financing a proper restoration?), this is one of the single most memorable films you will ever be privileged to see.  "Understand 'War And Peace' in a new and profound way."If you want a fascinating viewing and reading experience that brings War And Peace to life like never before read the Constance Garnett translation of Tolstoy's masterpiece at the same time you are viewing Bondarchuk's film. You will discover that the English subtitles are lifted directly from Garnett's translation and that director/actor Bondarchuk created many aspects of the novel in his film exactly the way Garnett describes it in her translation. Conveniently the film is divided into chapters that correlate with many chapters in the novel, e.g. The Drinking Party is chapter vi of the novel; Natasha Turns Thirteen is chapter viii, Count Bezukhov's Stroke is xx & xxi etc. The film unfolds as the novel does in a series of episodes that slowly outlines the action and a plot of epic proportions. It is fascinating to read a chapter and then see that chapter bought to life on the screen just the way Tolstoy envisioned the details in his novel; to read Tolstoy's description of a character down to the expression on the face and gestures of body language and then observe how perfectly Bondarchuk has cast that character and focused on the gestures Tolstoy describes is a marvel in itself. Reading the novel and viewing Bondarchuk's film together results in a coherence not to be found in either separately. There are many lapses in dialogue in the film where Bondarchuk is focusing on a scene or action that Tolstoy describes in detail, the total significance of which one misses unless one has read it in the novel. Because Tolstoy wrote in such epic proportions and in such detail it was impossible for Bondarchuk to recreate the entire novel in his film. For example the battle of Schon Grabern presented by Bondarchuck is the climax of a series of battles covered in such detail by Tolstoy that they couldn't all be rendered into film. This is true of episodes amongst the families as well. But by studying the novel and film together one gains a total understanding and a unique perspective on this remarkable story. Bondarchuk's obsession with historical accuracy, period authenticity, and faithfulness to Tolstoy's vision brings the characters and the war and peace within these families of Russian aristocrats utterly to life in the events of the Napoleonic Wars, and enjoying the novel and this film together is an epic experience in itself. "An incredible realization!"Ever since I've heard about this movie, I always wanted to see it. It was not until recently that I acquired a great Russian dvd copy with multiple subtitles. A restoration of the complete 7 1/2 hour long, widescreen version thought to be lost for a long time. It took me a whole week after work to see it all (4 DVDs + 1 of extras) and during the weekend I had to see it again, this time with company who also enjoyed it until the end. I'm certainly not a movie critic or pretend to be so I'm not going to dissect and criticize this movie. It is just the urge to express my joy when I confirmed again that the cinema is undoubtedly a new form of art from the 20th century. It is a media that can display (audio visually) all the forms of art. Theater, music, paint and in this particular case, literature. I must confess that I never read the whole "war and peace" book, just a digest in high school. I calculate that it would take me at least a month of daily reading during a whole vacation with nothing else to do but to read the whole book. And in 5 years I m sure I'll remember the movie better than the book, just like many other movies made after the book. For instance; when I think of "A street car named desire" I immediately think of Brando yelling "STELLA", reading the Tennesee Williams play couldn't make me feel what the picture did, but the picture made me feel what Williams wanted me to feel. Many times the movie differs from the book and fails to deliver the message or feeling that the author pretends, usually because of the "natural handicap" that movies have which is the short time (usually 2 hours) to complete a whole novel. The best example to probe this should be the other "war and peace" from 1956. There is just no comparison. And since I'm not a critic I give this a 5 "Sergei Bondarchuk is masterful"Since this is quite an old production, it may not have all the oomph, but if the watcher is just a little bit patient, he will find it to be a brilliant production. Although subtitles and dubs are available, it would surely be better if one knows at least French, if not Russian (other than English, ofcourse). This War and Peace captures all of the story well. It only requires a little patience. A tolstoy fan would obviously love it. I would have personally liked to see a little more of Napoleon. |
