War and Peace [The Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [2019]

Description

At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet film industry set out to prove it could out do Hollywood with a production that would dazzle the world: a titanic, awe-inspiring adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic tome in which the fates of three souls – the blundering, good-hearted Pierre; the heroically tragic Prince Andrei; and the radiant, tempestuous Natasha – collide amid the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars. Employing a cast of thousands and an array of innovative camera techniques, director Sergei Bondarchuk conjures a sweeping vision of grand balls that glitter with rococo beauty and breathtaking battles that overwhelm with their expressionistic power. As a statement of Soviet cinema’s might, War and Peace succeeded wildly, garnering the Academy Award for Best Foreign–Language Film and setting a new standard for epic moviemaking.SPECIAL EDITION FEATURESNew 2K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrackNew interviews with cinematographer Anatoly Petritsky and filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk, son of Sergei BondarchukTwo 1966 documentaries about the making of the filmTelevision programme from 1967 profiling actor Ludmila Savelyeva, featuring Sergei BondarchukNew programme with historian Denise J. Youngblood (Bondarchuk's "War and Peace": Literary Classic to Soviet Cinematic Epic) detailing the cultural and historical contexts for the filmJanus re-release trailerNew English subtitle translationPLUS: An essay by critic Ella Taylor