War and Peace

Audience Reviews

View More (114)

Alain E This is truly a spectacular achievement that proves that the Soviet Union, with the well known poor quality of consumer goods, could produce a movie better than the best Hollywood mega production, if they wanted to. The color image from 1966-67 was very well restored in 2017. In four parts with a total duration over 7 hours it has to be viewed in installments. I have read the book about 50 years ago, so I don’t remember how faithful the script is. The only part I found boring was the first hour of the second installment that examines the life of an adolescent girl in the Russian aristocracy. Still the acting and the cinematography remained first class. Thousands of extras were involved reproducing the battle fields which were filmed from multiple angles. There is a love triangle, but no nudity at all since production was in the socialist paradise of yore. The director also plays one of the two leading male roles, with success. There are all kind of treats. Very good images of nature. Tree leaves, if you can imagine, that reminded me of the undulating grass in one of Tarkovsky’s movies. A very nice sequence of hallucinations that happen when one of the two men who claim Natasha’s heart lays dying. On MAX. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/21/25 Full Review Sabrina S The scale of emotion is immense Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/22/25 Full Review Alec B A truly breathtaking epic and not just for the immense scale (seeing literally thousands of extras on screen is something to behold) but also because of how well the movie captures the characters and their shifting perspectives. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/24 Full Review Jan K A Bondarchuk Soviet masterpiece. Faithful to the book, it is splendid in its representation of both the interactions and movements of the Tzarist aristocracy - as well as the epic, unrepeatable battle scenes with over 10.000 Red Army extra's. Only the soft-spoken Russian can convey the drama's romanticism, that contraposes Tolstoys contemporary realism and history-critical position. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/15/23 Full Review David B Astounding in scope. Powerful narrators' thoughts - especially on death. Trivializes 99% of industry's output. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/17/23 Full Review s r Epic. I saw this because it was recommended by a Stanford professor who said it was his favorite movie since it was the most accurate depiction of war. HR McMaster also recommended it, so I gave it a shot and was not disappointed. Amazing cinematography and faithful to the novel. Really a first class production that is most likely the finest quality film made in Russia. It was on HBO and youtube. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

War and Peace

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW