TCM Presents Russian Epic, "War And Peace"

TCM shows a LOT of foreign movies, but I never see Russian movies. Until yesterday. And not just any movie. The 8-hour, "War and Peace". Is it because the director is Ukrainian? I hope there aren't more boycotts (like Russian music, etc), and these things are crucial to all of us, and those who aren't yet movie lovers. Give people the chance to judge. It looks very hypocritical when we spent 50 years criticizing the Russians for censorship and justify all of our actions for "democracy". I'm sure there are many here who don't want the scope of available movies to die because of the actions of .00000001% of Russians, or any other country, person, group, etc..

Has anyone seen this movie? 1-10 rating? Any other thoughts? I just started it fifteen minutes ago to tell you all it was available On-Demand, and to say how ironic I think this is. I wonder who makes these decisions, and who came up with the idea. They do have a lot of themes, or will play a weekend's worth of movies after they pass away (depending on how popular they were)

I'd like to watch this all in one go, but I'd hate to insert so much time and then delete it from my DVR. The 94% rating on RT makes me a little suspicious. And I don't like period pieces, and I'm hoping this isn't like Dr. Zhivago. I tried watching it last year, and after 40 minutes, I still had no idea what was going on.

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GIGANTISICISM

9/10 - my current #14 of all time

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I haven't read the novel, so I can't speak to how good an adaptation it is, but in terms of filmmaking, it's tremendous. Some mind-boggling battle sequences in this, makes most modern blockbusters look like embarrassments.

War And Peace 9,8/10
Doctor Zhivago 8,2/10

The word 'epic' is used often in reviews but War And Peace is one of the few films that actually deserves it. Took me about four tries to finish my re-watch of Doctor Zhivago but I'm glad I did, more for it's visuals than it's story. I think you will like Dersu Uzala more.

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I'm running out of space. 98% DVR.


How is the pace of this movie? I had to stop within the first hour.

The battle scenes are still just jaw dropping.
BTW the film, when you figure in inflation, is still the most expensive movie every made. No commercial studio could have ever made it. But the Russian government decided it was important to Russian Prestige to have a huge version of War and Peace that would blow the 1956 version out of the water so they pretty much gave Bordichuik (might have mispelled that" a blank check,including use of a couple of divisions of the Russian Army for the battle scenes.
As a adaptation of the novel, I prefer the 1973 BBC version, but the RUssian version is also really good.
The 1956 version has it's good points...Audrey Hepburn is perfect as Natasha, and the retreat from Moscow is an incredible sequence, but is otherwise just too 'Hollywood" in itls approch
The most recent BBC /Estonian film version has some very good performance, but does not come close to the Russian or previous BBC version.
The Hollywood and Russian version share on big flaw:Pierre is not well cast. Both Henry Fonda and Borduchiuk were simply too old for the role. IN addtion Fonda was too "American" and Borudchiuk was too stoic and unemotional. Anthony Hopkins nailed Pieere in the BBC version however.