Television: War and Peace (2016) by BBC; Based on Leo Tolstoy's Novel

I watched BBC’s historical drama TV series “War and Peace” which is based on Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name. This is a fascinating series of 6 episodes of approx. 1 hour each. I love reading about history and this TV series brought to me history of French invasion of Russia in year 1812 in the form of a wonderful motion picture.

Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov and James Norton as Andrei Bolkonsky are two primary characters and have both done wonderful job in their roles. Jessie Buckley as Marya Bolkonskaya has done a great job too.

I liked the way portrayals of family members have been done. The Bolkonsky family paints a picture of strength as well as tragedy. I liked the character of Andrei Bolkonsky; and was touched by the way he finds this life and world not worth living. And just when he was dying in the battlefield, he looked at the sky and noticed that the world he was so dispassionate towards was actually so beautiful! I also liked the character of Pierre Bezukhov, although I could not connect with it. I felt relief and happiness seeing that he survived. Andrei, unfortunately did not and perhaps that is the theme of many novels where they let principle characters die. Love between Andrei and his sister Marya as well as with his son was touching. I did not like the character of Sonya Rostova who cheats on Andrei. Hélène Kuragina on the other hand is pure evil. It is interesting to see that even during those times people married just for money and after marriage they tried to grab money and run away. Prince Vassily Kuragin is pure evil as well.

The historical account of French invasion of Russia is realistic. After watching this series, I went on to read a lot about this war and also about Napoleon. Napoleon Bonaparte looked like in the league of Alexander the great. I wish we had such leaders today who would stop menaces like global terrorism by punishing the countries which are harboring terrorist groups and threatening the civilized world.

This is a wonderful TV series, recommended for all history lovers.

- Rahul Tiwary