War and Peace (1967)

 Sergei Bondarchuk's "War and Peace"

The mighty task of adapting Leo Tolstoy's monumental novel "War and Peace" had already been done by Hollywood in 1956. King Vidor, the iconic director known for his giant, sweeping epics, was tasked with such a feat. The resulting film was good - albeit way too "Hollywood" to fulfil the existentialism of Tolstoy's original work.  

When the Soviet film industry decided on adapting their own national literature, they spared no expense. The rubles spent on their adaptation of "War and Peace" was equal to $9.21 million U.S. dollars, making it the most expensive Soviet film in history. The expenses went to good use, as the film managed to sell approximately 135 million tickets in the USSR, along with garnishing critical praise by winning the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the U.S., and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well.

The plot centers on a group of Russians elites during the Napoleonic wars. As war draws closer, the characters find themselves clinging to the normalcy of events. However, their entire life is turned upside down by war and terror, as both their personal lives as well as Russia as a whole begins to collapse underneath them.

What's most transcendent about the Soviet adaptation of "War and Peace" is just how epic and grandiose it is, far blowing King Vidor's adaptation out of the water. Many funds were spent on the production and it was put to good use. It is some of the most astonishing set design and visual imagery put on a film screen. This is especially true for the Battle of Borodino and the sack of Moscow. Both scenes feature Bondarchuk's camera well inside the action of battle and mayhem. Bondarchuk actually replicated these events on a grand scale and executed dolly shots, handheld, and an assortment of camera placements fully immersed within them. It almost feels like, as an audience member, you are present for the described events. 

What Bonarchuk also manages to pull off that Vidor never did was the existential despair present in Tolstoy's novel. Vidor's Hollywood adaptation has tragedy, yes. But Vidor's film is far more intrigued at the epicness of the events - the big, grand war equals the epic scale of the sweeping individual moments by its characters. 

However, much of Bonarchuk's film contains abstract or surreal spiritual elements. As the characters reach their lowest points, Bonarchuk manages to pull the internal existentialism out of the trenches of their soul and deliver to the viewer in a profound way. Of course, Tolstoy's novel speaks for itself. But, this iteration of his work is as close to its true spirit as one will ever get.

"War and Peace" is split into four individual films, each one released one after the other. Parts 1 and 2 were released in 1966, while the remaining two parts were released in 1967. All together, the four films total over 7 hours of runtime. For anyone who dares to sit down and watch it all in one go, I salute you. It is well worth the experience.