Krieg und Frieden

There are at least three major filmed versions of the epic, sprawling Tolstoy masterpiece, and each offers particular pleasures. The King Vidor version made for Hollywood is short; otherwise, it offers a miscast Henry Fonda and a wistful Audrey Hepburn, who while lovely indeed, is out of her depth in a deeply tragic story. The Russian version which clocks in at somewhere about eight hours has lavish spectacle going for it, huge amounts of staged battle sequences which boggle the mind--and done without the use of CGI;its drawback is an often confusing script and, for contemporary English and American audiences, an over-the-top, occasionally hysterical acting style. This version is fifteen hours long and I found it followed the book carefully, and is loaded with fine performances, particularly Anthony Hopkins as the confused Pierre, bumbling through life in search of some spiritual catharsis; there are numerous other roles that become memorable from actors not familiar to most of us, and only Napoleon comes up short in a lackluster, thudding performance. Because this version was for BBC and not the movies, it looks a little spare now and then, but once the rhythm was set, I found it compelling and hugely satisfactory.