Thursday, June 18, 2015

Cinema Cycle - War And Peace



CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)


War & Peace - Tape1.jpg
WarAndPeace-Part1.png
WarAndPeace-Part2.jpg
WarAndPeace-Part3.jpg


DATE VIEWED: 06/17/2015


TITLE: War & Peace


FORMAT: VHS


TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 6 hours 41 minutes


DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 81.3 miles


TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 1989.4 miles


SYNOPSIS: The lives of aristocratic 19th century Russians during the Napoleonic Wars is documented from 1810 through 1814.  


CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The question of mortality, destiny and eternity set in a vast dreamlike realm of privilege and ceremony.  


PROS AND CONS: Six hours is a long time to watch a film.  But that said, this is the second time that I have watched this film all the way through.  It is an epic film and follows Tolstoy’s masterpiece (which I have also read) very closely.  


This is a large work of grand scale that documents people and times that are far removed from what we understand today.  Russian cinema often has an underlying theme of fatalism and questioning our purpose in life.  This fatalism and searching is the focus of many of the characters in this film.  Sprinkle this narrative with the concept of young men and woman involved in passionate relationships in a society that has very strict codes of conduct and finally throw in Napoleon and you have a lot of stuff going on.  It takes 6 hours just to weave it all together.  



To read an overview of this project, check out the initial post for this series.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

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