# Should I watch War and Peace?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-watch-war-and-peace/290300>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 16, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-watch-war-and-peace/290300 "2005-02-16T02:32:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-watch-war-and-peace/290300/1 "2005-02-16T02:32:32Z")

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I’ve placed Sergei Bondarchuk’s \*\*War and Peace \*\* in my Netflix que. Should I watch it? I’ve heard about the movie, but have no idea if it is worth the substanial investment in time.

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**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-watch-war-and-peace/290300/2 "2005-02-16T04:56:15Z")

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YMMV, of course, but I once borrowed it from my public library on a weeknight and had to force myself to finish on another night so I would get enough sleep for work the next day. About the only part that seemed to drag on was the overflight shot of the French army retreating while Napoleon’s voiceover made all sorts of overblown rhetoric; so as to contrast with Kutuzov’s brief and to-the-point “well, if they’re in the shit, that’s too bad” speech to his own troops.

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**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-watch-war-and-peace/290300/3 "2005-02-16T14:51:10Z")

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To me it’s not a masterpiece, but it is worth seeing.  
Though probably not in one go; when the NFT screened it across a single day the other year, I was pretty frazzled by the end. By contrast, I didn’t feel that way when I saw Gance’s _Napoleon_ under similarish circumstances.