War and Peace (1956)

Based on the novel by Liev Tolstoy, first published, in evolving versions, from 1865 to 1869.

The lives of several persons from the Russian upper classes  in 19th century Russia, as Napoleon invades it and starts a war. A Russian general saves Russia by allowing Moscow to be destroyed. Here goes a very short summary of the plot. Pierre loves Natasha but she does not know it. He is probably too old and too intellectual to stir her romantic feelings. Natasha falls in love with Andrei, who is an older man too, and thus is reluctant in marrying Natasha. They postpone a decision to after Andrei returns from the battlefield, but in the meantime Natasha falls in love with Anatole, a cheap seducer. Anatole's plans are foiled by Pierre, who prevents Natasha from eloping with him. Andrei dies from a war wound. Pierre proposes to Natasha and she accepts.

Quite entertaining and photogenic succession of dramatic incidents. The film appears, on a superficial view, to have a very broad ranging dramatic and philosophical scope, but in reality it is mostly a treatise on Russia. The plot has a metaphorical structure in which military actions illustrate erotic ones. Pierre's defense of Natasha mirrors Andrei's defense of Russia. Furthermore, Tolstoy's choice of a French given name for his protagonist (and also for his first wife) points out how France's soft invasion was already happening before Napoleon's hard one. There was no resistance from Russia to soft seduction, but it would not tolerate hard rape. And it is only fair that Pierre gets Natasha in the end; he and the Russian general are masters in the deferment of pleasure, as they refrain from acting at a first moment in order to reap results later; Pierre could have declared his love for Natasha when she was very young, but estimated that his chances for success would be minimal; he lets Natasha get involved with (and scarred by) other men, and only after she ends up alone makes his move. In an analogous fashion, the Russian general lets Bonaparte take Moscow, and after the city is destroyed he makes his move, with the assistance of the Russian winter. Italians and Americans, who were war enemies a decade or so earlier, made this movie together as friends in peacetime.

Rating: 59