Comment

War & Peace

the Complete Miniseries
Oct 28, 2017LisaintheLibrary rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I have a couple of confessions to make: 1) I checked this out because I had heard good things about this production and because I didn’t really want to spend the time reading the book 2) The first couple of episodes bored me, but I forced myself to keep watching Truth be told, by the time I got to the end of the fourth episode, I was hooked and couldn’t wait for the next one. The final scene was a bit of a departure from the previous episodes. I suppose it mirrors the epilogues you'll find in the full novel. The final scenes are a glimpse into the lives of the Russian families who had survived this tumultuous period in history and is a clear jump into the future by a few years. It seemed as if it was shot with a different camera and at first I didn’t like it. It seemed too modern, too fresh. But then I realized that perhaps this was the very statement the director intended to make … for these Russian families and Russia as a country. The novel War & Peace, a novel with various themes to include reaching an understanding of the various elements of life by experiencing their opposites, is set in Russia during a period of time that spans 15 years — 1805 to 1820. During this time period, Russia is invaded by France with a force twice the size of the Russian regular army. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the novel (or at least this television adaptation) ends with a scene of bright, airy optimism and like stark contrasts of life and death, imprisonment and liberty, suffering and joy, sometimes a stark contrast is needed for the full weight of a message to be heard, felt, or seen. If you watch it with that perspective, I think you’ll enjoy this version of War & Peace from beginning to end. But even if that isn’t your bowl of borscht, you may like this story (and this production) for the period costumes, the love affairs, and the scandals alone. --- Also: For any Spanish speakers out there (or Spanish language learners), this does also have Spanish subtitles which I found to be quite good. --- P.S. I watched this long before the Weinstein scandal broke. I don’t watch a lot of film, so when the letters W E I N S T E I N flashed across the screen at the beginning and end of every episode, I thought to myself, “Who is this Weinstein? Whoever he is, he’s behind some great productions if this is any indicator.” Well, guess what? I know who he is now. (Weinstein actually refers to The Weinstein Company, a company founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.) All I can say is this: Don’t let that scandal taint your opinion of this production or keep you from seeing it. To do so would punish all of the wonderful actors, costume designers, and other hard-working individuals who gave their time and talent to this production. I don’t know if this makes it any easier for you to borrow this from the library, but 1) the library has already purchased this DVD and 2) talks are already underway for the sale of the Weinstein company.