Customer Reviews

WAR and PEACE (TV-Series) [ Import ]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Condensed classic of epic proportions and sensual sensory splendors! This Italian T.V. mini series is studded with an international cast of brilliant players and enough extras to fill the Cinecitta Rome set five times over. One of the fascinating things about this marvelously accessible version of the story is that it (for us in the USA) is in English. Don't let the Russian Box fool you. An extra added bonus it that the film was shot in Russia so you get the added pleasure of seeing some incredible architecture of the period and the stunning Russian countryside (And a little of Lithuania.)

There is in the huge cast some real stand out performances. Brenda Blethyn is wonderful as always, and as Prince Andre's father Malcolm McDowell is chilling and arresting in his approach to the part.

In the lead female role we have the lovely Cemence Posey, who is near perfect in a role so associated in the West with Audrey Hepburn. There have been complaints that she is a blond in a traditionally dark haired part, but that seems trivial to me in comparison to her performance. In the romantic lead of Prince Andre is the wonderful Italian star, Alessio Boni. He brings to the role a deliciously tragic gravitas that is so important to the story. He is a brilliant actor who needs more exposure on this side of the world. Just check out his work in "The Best Of Youth" and "Don't Tell".

Also the incredibly beautiful Violante Placido plays the wicked Helene with relish and great style. Not since Polly Walker in HBO's Rome has there been such a delicious wicked woman on the screen. She was a delight to watch and I found myself missing her when she was not on screen.

Benjamin Sadler (Who was so brilliant in "Augustus" see my amazon review of that film) is on hand to lend his considerable snakey charm and great presence to the role of Dolokov. (Why is this actor not a huge star yet?)

Yes there are many other worthy performances to see and savor in this lush and enthralling film, too many to go any further with here. Rather, take the chance and get this film and let the magic of Tolstoy's timeless story take you into a world that is gone with the wind.

Yes it is not as huge and epic as the 1968 Russian classic but it is none the less even at times more wonderful!

The DVD is splendid with clear beautiful image and great sound. As I said the film is in Enlish with an international cast. It is obvious they are all speaking in English and if any are dubbed that is Not obvious. Very well done in the sound department. And the score by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek is lush and soaring. Most particularly stunning at the end of act two as Natasha descends the grand staircase with the viper Anitole Kuragin (Ken Dunken) on her heals.

I am a Tolstoy aficionado, have read War and Peace more than once. I say this in order to qualify my review. I have also seen all 4 of the major movie productions.

The first production with Audrey Hepburn was a US made piece and is sadly dated, also it is so short that everything is abbreviated.

The second production, by Bondarchuk, is a magnificent production, but I felt somewhat disappointed with it as to me Tolstoy balances the human and world events in such a profound way, and this production seems to focus mainly on the world events. However, some of the battle scenes are like great symphonies and bring deep emotions and tears to the eyes. There is little depth or development of the stories of the characters, however. Platon Karatayev, for example, is barely mentioned and is a pivotal part of the story of Pierre.

My favorite production to this day is the one produced by the BBC with Anthony Hopkins as Pierre. In this 12 hour series a number of very strong characters create an interwoven story which I have watched a number of times. The characters of Pierre, Natasha, Andrei, Princess Maria, The old Prince Bolkonsky, Helene and all the others are so memorable that I would recommend this production as the greatest thus far produced. Although they did not have the resources to produce the battle scenes, costumes and authentic sets, this is after all fiction. And some of the greatest plays are done with virtually nothing but a few props.

It was with great anticipation that I purchased this most recent production directed by Dornhelm, touted at costing 30,000,000.00 and supposedly involved with the personalities of the book.

I was appalled to see that the actual story has been raped and pillaged to abbreviate events leading to the engagement with Andre. I get the feeling that, typical of so many productions of the late 20th and early 21st century, that there was this big budget to be spent and huge resources to be managed, at the cost of a single artist putting together a cogent and cohesive work of art. Although I felt some disappointment at the rather shallow depictions of the characters in the Bondarchuk production, I feel utter anger and contempt that the characters in this present one are so uninteresting and lacking in any depth.

To have a Natasha running around with a schoolgirl crush on Andre, when in the story she only vaguely sees him, not to show the very difficult relationship between the Countess Rostov and her ward Sonia from the beginning, and the reason Sonia is unwanted as a daughter in law, due to the profligacy of the Rostovs financial decisions, good hearted as they are, all make me angry that so much could be wasted on such an insipid production.

This production has been compared to the one of Napoleon, which I have also watched several times, and I can't see any comparison as in that the characters are all riveting, strong actors. Even though it is involved with a lot of historical events and not even a novel, the characters themselves carry this magnificent production.

To me this latest production of War and Peace is like so much of what is wrong with the present era. Everything is superficial, there is no time to get to deep emotion or profundity, it is all frippery, clothes hung on totally forgettable actors and actresses, and visions of a past whose real glory lives only through great works of literature and great art.

I do not recommend wasting any money on this movie. Just read the book and check out the BBC production from your local library!

This has to be by far the worst film interpretation of War and Peace! THE WORST! The plot is absurdly muddled. Prince Andrew does not meet Natasha at the beginning of the story at her name day celebration. He resided principally in ST Petersburg and the Rostovs are Moscovite nobility. Natasha did not long and pine for Prince Andrei while he was married to Lise. She only meets him when he comes to Otradnoye to conduct business with her father after becoming a widower. At the grand ball, the music is completely inaccurate and by Khachaturian - composed a century later. And the decor is 90% wrong throughout the film and mostly of styles that existed 50 to 70 yrs later -in short ghastly Victorian hideous monstrosities. The Rostovs, Bezhukovs, Kuragins and Bolkonsky family would have lived in delightful late 18th Century Louis XVI interiors and at the most modish Prince Andrei and Lise would have lived in a Consulat style house as a stylish young menage. Anna Dimitrievna's part is way blown out of proportion and she appears far more in the film and seems to play a much more imposing presence in the film than Tolstoy intended. Then that absurd scene where the Tsar sends Count Rostov (who was hardly in the inner circle at the Imperial Court!) a message about the outbreak of war in 1805 as the Rostovs are celebrating Natasha's name day, is totally delusional and never occurred in Tolstoy's novel. Neither did Countess Helene Bezhukov have any desire to exact any revenge on Natasha. This is another totally delusional moment in the film and totally NOT in the novel. And this laundry list of inaccuracies is just the tip of the iceberg. This film has taken a fascinating story which I have loved since reading it 37 yrs ago at age 13 - and have reread many times since- and made it B-O-R-I-N-G! Pierre is also all wrong too. In Tolstoy's novel, he is clearly Fat and ungainly.

As far as film interpretations go, none is perfect. The 1956 version with Audrey Hepburn is also full of shortcuts and inaccuracies but has more desire to adhere to Tolstoy's narrative and Audrey Hepburn is worth watching as is Mel Ferrer and some of the supporting cast interpretations of characters. In the end, it's also a fun - if rather cheesy 1950's fluffy costume historical film and has a amusing mid century cinema element to it. The BBC version for TV in the early 1970's is excellent - albeit dated. And it does not escape the characteristic - if endearing "Britishisms" of such productions regardless if the story transpires in Russia or France. It's still worth watching. In the end, Sergei Bondarchuk's version is probably the best. Although it is also dated and the decor has some inexcusable inaccuracies in light of the fact that Mosfilm and Bondarchuk had enviable resources at their disposal to recreate early 19th Century aristocratic interiors. Admittedly, Bondarchuk's film is hard to follow if the viewer has not read the book. So read the book and get with the programme! But don't waste you money on this DVD!

This tacky version of the Tolstoy tome suffers most from some inexplicably crass casting - particularly the rabbit-faced ingenue doing Natasha with wide-eyed ineptitude, and a dufus interpretation of the central philosophic, Pierre. All the characterizations are the cardboard kind of daytime TV, and director Dornhelm seems to want this to appeal to a mass audience - probably adolescents - who would never attempt to read the book. This is glossy camp and can be enjoyed on that level: an expensive, inept TV show of epic proportions.
This Scandinavian, all-region blu-ray has all four parts of the mini-series on two discs, presented with an English soundtrack, with optional Danish, Swedish or Finnish subtitles. The mastering is glossy, but appears accurate and detailed. The sound is not discrete 6-track as indicated on the packaging, but is 2-track matrixed stereo which sounds clean, but dynamically flat, when played correctly in Dolby pro-logic mode.

I could not help but watch the entire series in one sitting. I thought that it was beautifully done. During the first episode I fell in love with Prince Andrei, and during the second and third episode I was hating Countess Bezukov, her brother Prince Anatole and sometimes even Natasha, and during the last episode... no, I'm not going to tell you about the last episode, you have to see it for yourselves. Overall, I thought that acting was great, costumes and scenery were gorgeous, some scenes were especially beautiful and reminded me of paintings. I understand that some purists did not like this adaptation, but being somewhat a purist myself I still greatly enjoyed these series. Now I am going to read the book again, and I'm sure after that I'll watch this adaptation again.
p.s. the only complain would be the lack of English subtitles.

Clearly this is made for popular viewing by people who have never read the book. It uses some of the basic narrative of events and characters to make a costume soap opera. It has none of the poetry, none of the philosophical musings searching for wisdom, none of the variety of characters or understanding of humanity of Tolstoy's great literary masterpiece. Even Pierre has been turned into a socially easy, seductive image for someone's erotic fantasy, with glasses the only indicator of Tolstoy's intention that he be a socially awkward, rather plump, bumbling intellectual. It has taken his beautiful novel and turned it into trash. The movie made by the Russian Bondarchuk is wonderful but in Russian and my copy is a faded 30 year old tape. I was lured into buying this version by the enthusiastic reviews above and hope this will alert others in my place.

It's a bit odd that, at least of the date of this writing, Amazon doesn't seem to be offering this 4-disk version of War and Peace except as a pricey import. I'm surprised it's not more widely available in the United States.

First of all, this is NOT the huge epic by Sergei Bondarchuk from 1968, though visually and in terms of its length, this outing is fully comparable to that well-known one.

What you're looking at is an internationally produced TV miniseries bankrolled chiefly by Italian public television, RAI! It has the look and feel, however, of a BBC job: all British actors, for example.

But I prefer this one more. Bondarchuk's hand almost oppresses the viewer, and is difficult to follow unless you know the story to begin with. Not this one.

It's actually quite nicely done: they spent some real money on it. People praise Bondarchuk's battle scenes, and while those may be impressive when you reflect they were thronged not with CGI-enhanced soldiers, but actual down-on-their luck Muscovites, visually, I suppose, this doesn't make much of a difference in the end.

This version, I feel, is much clearer and easier to follow than Bondarchuk's -- and nearly as long. And while Bondarchuk's bold direction takes center stage in his version, the directing is much more assured in this version, much more subtle and less obtrusive, it seems.

There are other advantages too: this version has clear, professionally done subtitles, unlike the Bondarchuk epic, which, as of this writing, suffers from poorly rendered and unprofessional versions.

However, I cannot wholeheartedly endorse this product.

The reason is the hideous and laughable performance by the actress cast as Natasha. In fact, for acting generally, anybody can see the obvious superiority of Bondarchuk's version. In this version, the acting generally -- but Natasha's performance in particular -- is a real black hole to the entire production. At one point, when the Rostov family is learning of Petya's death, she even cracks a smile!

(This is only one example of her horrendousness. And there are other laughably bad actors, too: Anatole Kuragin, for example.)

If you can forget Natasha, however, I'd prefer this version for clarity and restraint. Certainly if I ever sit down to read War and Peace again, this will be the version I re-watch to help me get back in the groove.

This was very interesting, excellent attention to detail & squeeing most of the story into a shorter version. Am happy to add it into my collection.