War and Peace

I am a bit surprised at how hard everyone is on this little mini-series. I have viewed a number of the previous efforts of putting War and Peace on the screen, and actually think that these folks did not do a bad job! While Russians may be justifiably distressed at the international, non-Russian cast, as an American viewer who has seen some of these actors in British, Italian, and American films, I found the cast completely engaging in this production. The cast may not have the right hair color, as previous posts have noted, but in many ways they are true to the spirit of Tolstoy's work, and even manage to breathe their own life into the roles as well. I actually think Clemence Poesy is stunning and believable as Natasha, for example. This very young, granted inexperienced actress, caught some of the freshness, innocence, joie de vivre etc., required for the role, and then summoned the passion and emotion later on to make her "transgression" believable. And what about the location shooting?-- and the beautiful lighting and camera work at those locations? I thought it was head and shoulders above the cinematography of the Hepburn/Fonda version, etc. I was astonished at some of the previous comments about the bad dancing, too: the Natasha/Andrei dance at the ball was one of the loveliest and most atmospheric period dance scenes I've seen on film in recent years. (All the recent Jane Austen films should take note!) My only complaint is that as an American it was very hard to track down a copy that would play on my Region 1 DVD.

I have just seen the second part of the series. I read the book some time ago so I can compare it to this great story by Lew Tolstoy. What can I say is that the movie lacks the epic size of the story. Historical events were in Tolstoy "War and peace" as important as personal stories which seem to be in this movie the only important. This way the story has turned into a kind of melodrama - just another marital and love stories, without big depth. Most of the characters are not very expressive. I was very surprised of the look of Natasha as I remember her from the book description as very simple, joyful and black haired girl. Prince Bolkonsky is not very interesting and lacks any charisma. I like Pierre Bezuchow and can sympathize with princess Marie. And I can agree: lack of Russian language in any form is very painful. But what can we expect from television drama? Nothing more like the soap opera. And that's it. If I am wrong not having seen yet 3rd and 4th part - apologize.

Excellent all-around--the superb acting is the high point--Alexander Beyer and Hannelore Elsner particularly good, and of course Malcolm McDowell is good. The cinematography and production design are gorgeous, and the historical realism is dense and exciting (best Napoleon you'll ever see). Costumes are excellent and rich, and the direction is skillful (wonderful close-ups of the actors, the directors really gave them a chance to shine). Music is beautiful. A really outstanding, well-made piece, a great tale with a wonderful cast of villains and delightfully honorable, upstanding characters, with many exciting contests and backstabbing among them. Though admittedly the narrative has to move along at a brisk pace, and much is left out of the story, this is true of any long tale like this one brought to the screen. Much fun to watch over a few nights.

For those that have read the well over 1,000-paged book, this mini-series will prove to impress you quite well. While most of the characters are well-cast, and the cinematography is rich enough for a full-featured film, I felt rushed along a little too hurriedly. Yes, while Tolstoy did go incredibly in-depth on his characters, there were still some VERY important elements that were either skipped or assumed in this series that left me wanting.

Maybe I simply felt let down from the commitment put into reading the novel to see everything shortened so much, however if only they could have spared a few more hours to supply that to enrich the characters...

I really liked this mini series and was never bored with it.

Considering how long it was that was some feat. I see many on here have criticised the casting of certain characters and I can agree with much of what has been said, however for me it didn't detract from the over all enjoyment.

It contained all the right emotions and I thought(casting aside) most of the acting was of a very high standard. The mix of European stars some more stars than others lifted the acting standard and it all worked really well. The scenery and sets were also truly breathtaking.

So over all a good series that reflected the spirit of the book.