Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace

According to the FT, there is a nostalgia craze in Russia for imperial tsarist history. Putin has commissioned a new set of textbooks taking a revisionist and slightly simplistic look at the Tsars - some people think in order to shape a new national identity built around strong leadership but NOT wrapped up in Communism.

What better way to celebrate a slightly sinister bit of propaganda than some screenshots from a truly masterful bit of propaganda?



Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace is a Russian epic. As Roger Ebert said: "By now the statistics regarding "War and Peace" are well known, but forgive me if I recite them with a certain relish anyway: the film was five years in the making at a cost of $100,000,000, with a cast of 120,000, all clothed in authentic uniforms, and the Red Army was mobilized to recreate Napoleon's battles exactly (it is claimed) as they happened."

Apparently, the embarrassment of riches thrown at the production was because the film equivalent of an arms race was going on after the 1959 American-Italian of War and Peace was released. It was decided that the Russian version must top it; at any price.

This scene (one that I watched quite a lot as a little girl) is Natasha's first ball, where no one will dance with her untl Pierre sends his friend Andrei over. So romantic!*

*This scene is great but the book is so much more - read it if you haven't!