Guerre et paix IV: l'année terrible

War and Peace Part IV, Pierre Bezukhov, might as well be called the "Fire and Ice Edition" given the prominence of the depiction of the great Fire of Moscow as well as some great (but unfortunately brief) shots of "General Winter." Like Part III, the spectacle is grand and sweeping: According to The Criterion Collection, the fire scene had to be planned for 10 months and shot with helicopters and six ground-level cameras. If no one got killed making that scene, that's an achievement.

Aside from the sheer elaborateness of the production, director Sergei Bondarchuk once again justifies this with artistic vision: Even the shots of Napoleon looking over his conquered Moscow (pre-fire) are impressive and inspiring. The shot of Napoleon riding out of Russia are dynamic but moody and convey that sense of despair and defeat. The end cinematography of the Russian landscape is great, though it's a direct callback from Part I. Andrei's dream sequences are also artistically masterful.

Part IV is short by itself while covering a lot, but it still wraps things up a satisfying note. It captures that homecoming feeling after a war; Pierre seeing the grown Natasha (with flashbacks to their memories of each other), has that "V-J Day in Times Square" kissing sailor image written all over it. The full seven-hour experience can leave any viewer feeling exhausted but mightily impressed.

Some of the weird experimental touches don't fully work here, whereas a lot of the more artsy, out there stuff in the earlier parts did work for me. However, it does work as a mostly satisfying conclusion, with a few excellent sequences. I was worried I'd be restless and bored during this final part, having watched all 4 in one day, but thankfully that was not the case.

Of all the adaptations of Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece 'War and Peace' (all ranging from above watchable, though the 2007 adaptation was disappointing, to outstanding), the not always perfect but still towering achievement that is Sergei Bondarchuk's adaptation is second best. Best being to me the 1972 mini-series, do think that 'War and Peace' lends itself better to a mini-series than to a film due to its length and complexity.

Bondarchuk's adaptation is extremely long and might be something to be split over a few nights rather than see it in one sitting, but is quite an experience and one of those that fits under the category "unlike anything you've seen before". One of those experiences that is a must see, for anybody wanting a faithful adaptation in cinematic form and done incredibly well Bondarchuk's version is an absolute must. This final part in particular is worth it, being the most searingly intense and most emotional of what came before as well as being very important for the story and character development.

It may lack the book's sharp bite again at times, though with what is going on on screen there is really not an awful lot of time for that, and occasionally the acting is histrionic but not majorly.

This 'War and Peace' though is a visual marvel. The scenery and period detail is spectacular and gives a sense of time and place far better than any other version of 'War and Peace' and the cinematography is inventive and enough to take the breath away. The snowstorm tracking shot is indeed not one to forget and does hit hard. The scope and spectacle is also enormous and that is apparent throughout, the aforementioned burning of Moscow, especially with the inferno, is really quite extraordinary and stayed with me for a long time on an emotional level.

Music score again chills the bone, not only music that was emotionally powerful and beautiful to listen to but also gave a sense that the story was set in Russia in the way that few of the other versions, only 2016's, managed to achieve. The script is thoughtful and the story is compelling and with a lot of recognisable elements in detail and spirit. Bondarchuk's direction is again remarkable and Pierre, also played by Bondarchuk (there is no sense of him biting off more than he can chew with giving himself a lot to do, far from it), is at his most powerful and relatable here.

All the characters have come on a lot in development, Natasha being a strong example. None are caricatures, even Napoleon.

Overall, really powerful stuff and Tolstoy and Russian literature fans should make every effort to see it. 9/10