Voyna i mir I: Andrey Bolkonskiy

Part I of Sergei Bondarchuk's relentlessly ambitious 1965-67 War and Peace, "Andrei Bolkonsky", debuted at the Moscow Film Festival in 1965 and won the Grand Prix. It was also torn apart by critics at that time, according to The Criterion Collection, because it was played at that festival in an unfinished state. It later went to regular theatres, finished, in 1966 and became part of a cinematic phenomenon. Part I gives us an appetizer for the battle scenes to come with Austerlitz. These scenes aren't as impressive as the ones in parts III and IV, but they are gripping and terrifying in their own right.

From the word go, War and Peace boasts an elaborate production speaking to a director with an artistic vision. Nothing is "too much": In Part I, we see a bear attend a debauched aristocrats' party, because why not? We could cut the bear to spare the expense, but no, keep the bear. The creativity is also there, and even if we're looking at something ordinary, it still leaves me impressed. A tree almost comes to life, as if by magic, and we also see some ghostly images as viewed by Natasha. Natasha appears fairly young here, and as with Boyhood (2014), War and Peace offers a rare experience of seeing characters age naturally, a result of a years-long production.

Part I also gives us some philosophy to contemplate by means of Andrei and Pierre's discussions. The fact that Pierre refers to Napoleon here as "the greatest man in the world" is, to say the least, interesting considering what he plans to do in Part IV. If you've finished Part I, fasten your seatbelts - there's a lot more to come.

So many good directors began their careers as actors. It's the last thing you'd expect. Bondarchuk, like surprisingly many other actors, knows how to handle a wide screen, how to enchant his images, how to keep seemingly mundane footage alive; he can handle everything from soliloquies to mammoth battle scenes; and he ALMOST manages to put it all together into a perfectly constructed seven-hour epic. Alas, not quite. Instalments three and four (three especially) have the air of having been made in the editing suite, after the director had failed to assemble all the shots he needed. But instalments one and two are perfect. Of the two, Part One is the more breathtaking ... not that there's anything wrong with Part Two, but its scope is narrower: it's heavily pre-occupied with its title character (Natasha), and the "war" part of the story is lost even as a backdrop.

The "war" scenes in Part One are the best in the whole four-part movie, by a long shot - mainly because they have a point. The scenes of Russia away from the front are all implicitly related to the war (and, by some magical means - it's all in Tolstoy, and I don't understand how it works there, either - to each other), and when we see the actual war, crystallised in a single battle, Bondarchuk (as Tolstoy was doing in the early parts of the book) is trying to convey something other than mere chaos.

Watch the whole four-part film. It's amazing. But almost all of the secret of its success is contained within Part One.

'War and Peace' is from personal perspective one of the magnum opuses in literature. It is very powerful, admittedly not the easiest to be gripped by straightaway, and the story is very rich with complex characterisation and themes. It is very difficult to adapt as a result of all of this, as well as the mammoth length. From personal experience, as an avid reader of all genres this and Stephen King's 'IT', at least they're the ones coming to mind at the moment, have the longest lengths of any book.

Anybody who even as much attempts to adapt Leo Tolstoy's magnum opus 'War and Peace' deserves at least a pat on the back for trying, regardless of how successful it is in doing so or not. This adaptation from Sergei Bondarchuk is one of the best, evidenced already in this first part, alongside the 1972 mini-series. When it comes to flawed but towering achievements, this adaptation immediately fits that distinction, something that shouldn't be missed regardless of whether you speak or have knowledge of Russian or not. Part 1 is excellent and starts the adaptation off on a more than promising note, though all four parts have so many fantastic merits in their own way. Even if more than one sitting is necessary as the whole adaptation is very lengthy and heavy going (not meant in a bad way).

Pacing at times could have been tighter as we are introduced to the characters. And the tone is occasionally a touch too sullen, the savage satirical bite that is sometimes adopted in the source material could have been brought out more.

Mostly though the acting is fine. Particularly Vyacheslav Tikhonov, while Bondarchuk himself as Pierre has grown on me and Pierre is one of the more fleshed out characters here.

Visually, 'War and Peace Part 1: Andrei Bolkonsky' is stunning. 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 scope and spectacle is also enormous and that is apparent in the truly gut wrenching war scenes. Enhanced by a truly chilling music score, 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 managed to achieve, only the 2016 music score came close.

The script is rich in detail, thoughtful and mostly true to Tolstoy's style, and the story while not the easiest to get into straightaway is compelling on the whole, at its best in the war scenes. Fans of the book will be thrilled to find as many of the key scenes, themes and characters kept intact as much as possible and with the full impact they should do, while the human drama is more often than not thoughtful and genuinely poignant, even if here a lot of it is set up. The characters don't come over as caricatures, with Pierre actually being the most real character here. Bondarchuk's direction is remarkable, his task was monumental and he succeeded in making it completely fascinating and the spectacle is not just jaw dropping visually it has soul and emotional impact.

Altogether, excellent first part to a towering achievement. 9/10

I'm really impressed so far. The amount of characters and story is teetering on overwhelming (especially because I've never read the novel nor seen another adaption of War & Peace), but I'm following well enough. The battle sequences have been as insane as everyone else has described them, the scope in all the non-battle scenes is impressive too, the camerawork is frequently risky and inventive in ways that work, and there are some surprisingly surreal and philosophical sequences that are actually working for me and not feeling boring (I say that as someone who isn't a huge Tarkovsky fan). Here's hoping the remaining parts are just as good.

In addition to being the most faithful adaptation of the novel, this work is really a marvelous masterpiece of direction. Not only the battle scenes were realistic and fascinating, but the detailed portrayal of Moscow's looting, destruction, vandalism and humiliation at the hands of the invaders was striking and expensively arranged that I played those scenes repeatedly to mark all the details.

Bondrachuk as Besukhov was so fit in the role that one forgets he's in fact the director.

The only thing I could never comprehend is why Slava Tikhonov considered this as his worst performance that he thought to quit acting and was surprised when Bondrachuk offered him another role afterwards ... I believe he made a fine Andrey, definitely better than all other known versions. Of course not his own best role but that's related to both the novel itself as well as to the overwhelming cinematographic visuals which make any individual performance just a tiny drop in the ocean of splendid scenes.