Bondarchuk's War and Peace

Sergei Bondarchuks War and Peace, one of the worlds greatest film epics, originated as a consequence of the Cold War. Conceived as a response to King Vidors War and Peace, Bondarchuks surpassed that film in every way, giving the USSR one small victory in the cultural Cold War for hearts and minds. This book, taking up Bondarchuks masterpiece as a Cold War film, an epic, a literary adaptation, a historical drama, and a rival to Vidors Hollywood version, recoversand expandsa lost chapter in the cultural and political history of the twentieth century.Like many great works of literature, Tolstoys epic tale proved a major challenge to filmmakers. After several early efforts to capture the storys grandeur, it was not until 1956 that King Vidor dared to bring War and Peace to the big screen. American critics were lukewarm about the film, but it was shown in the Soviet Union to popular acclaim. This book tells the story of how the Soviet government, military, and culture ministryall eager to reclaim this Russian masterpiece from their Cold War enemiespulled together to make Bondarchuks War and Peace possible. Bondarchuk, an actor who had directed only one film, was an unlikely choice for director, and yet he produced one of the great works of Soviet cinema, a worthy homage to Tolstoys masterpiecean achievement only sweetened when Russias Cold War adversary recognized it with the Academy Awards Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of 1968.Denise Youngblood examines the film as an epic (and at seven hours long, released in four parts, at a cost of nearly $700,000,000 in todays dollars, it was certainly that), a literary adaptation, a complex reflection on history, and a significant artifact of the cultural Cold War between the US and the USSR. From its various angles, the book shows us Bondarchuks extraordinary film in its many dimensionsaesthetic, political, and historicaleven as it reveals what the film tells us about how Soviet patriotism and historical memory were constructed during the Cold War.