War & Peace

“One must live. One must love. One must believe.” Leo Tolstoy's epic 1869 novel is faithfully adapted (aside from the usual sins of omission and compression) in this handsomely-mounted four-episode 2007 miniseries featuring an international cast. Opening in 1805 and continuing through the disastrous invasion of Russia by Napoleon's army in 1812, War & Peace centers on the stories of three major characters: Natasha Rostov (Clémence Poésy), a spirited young woman eager to find romance; military hero Prince Andrej Bolkonsky (Alessio Boni), a temperamentally reserved man who falls under Natasha's bewitching spell; and bastard-son-turned aristocratic count Pierre Bezukhov (Alexander Beyer), a larger-than life friend of Prince Andrej—given to philosophical musings and also unhappily married to the beautiful but possibly unfaithful society hostess Helene Kuragin (Violante Placido). Unfolding simultaneously are events in the lives of the extended families of the Rostovs (including off-to-war son Nikolaj, played by Dmitriy Isaev) and Bolkonskys (most notably, Malcolm McDowell's curmudgeonly patriarch), as well as various other colorful characters, such as sleep-loving but battle-avoiding Russian general Kutuzov (Vladimir Ilin) and high-society backstage-manipulating matron Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa (Brenda Bleythn). While purists will certainly carp (over Natasha's blonde hair, among other things), director Robert Dornhelm's opulent production (reputedly budgeted at $70 million)—filmed on location in Russia and Lithuania—ultimately compares quite favorably with both the 1972 miniseries with Anthony Hopkins (VL-1/08) and Sergei Bondarchuk's Oscar-winning 1969 classic (which today suffers from its overuse of distracting late ‘60s cinematic tropes such as kaleidoscopic images). Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)