Save this article to read it later.

Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.

And you’re free to, indeed, finallyseeit.

Article image

Its an all-timer, one of those experiences you wont soon forget.

give a shot to catch it on a big screenif it comes anywhere near you.

To lose any of these elements is to lose what makes Tolstoy Tolstoy.

That focus thankfully does not come at the expense of breadth.

Even Napoleon himself gets a few thoughts in there.

All the while, the camera drifts through smoking battlefields, glittering ballrooms, and gathering clouds.

Youngblood also notes that thousands of ordinary citizens sent personal period items for use in the film.

Getting this movie made properly was a matter of national pride.

Vidors production was a big hit with Soviet audiences, attracting 31.4 million viewers.

The Central Committee was deluged with letters denouncing the Americans and calling for a Soviet effort in response.

And we ourselves are not able to adapt it?

Its a disgrace to the entire world!

Bondarchuks crew used extremely long, swiftly swiveling cranes and remote-control cameras to achieve rapid changes in perspective.

The camera was often put on helicopters and planes and sent to shoot the battlefield from among the clouds.

The verisimilitude of these scenes is staggering.

Needless to say, most of these shots had to be done in one take.

The greatest set pieces give us newfound perspective.

Oddly enough, the West seemed to appreciate the movie a bit more at the time.

Over the ensuing decades, its reputation has risen and fallen and risen again.

Thats why this current opportunity should not be missed.

I have never seen anything that comes close to matching it in scope.