A great episode...(thanks to the BBC for the great picture too!)
This week saw things finally reaching the heart of the matter. The differences between Andrei and Pierre were manifest. Pierre's suffering and introspection has already seen him beginning to look beyond the "illusion" we call "life", to see everything in a wider and wiser context. Andrei, for all his goodness, is trapped in a cold intellectuality that causes him to see things in terms that are too black and white - at least at the beginning. His relationship with Natasha lies in ruins thanks to a mistake spawned by a combination of her immaturity and his over-cautiousness and inability to oppose his father. An act of forgiveness would have mended things, but Andrei is unwilling to go there. Only Pierre's understanding nature prevents Andrei losing his friendship as well.
Meanwhile, the ruined relationship, and Andrei's growing discontent with his military career, combined with a dawning awareness of the futility of war finally causes him to behave in a suicidal manner at the Battle of Borodino as he fails to drop for cover when a whirling cannon-grenade lands near his men. He literally and willingly stares death in the face...
Pierre is also busy on the battlefield and is rapidly coming to similar conclusions about war. While helping out a cannon emplacement he is nearly killed when he and a soldier he has come to know are blown up by the detonation of an ammunition box as it receives a French direct hit. The young soldier is literally blown in half. All Pierre can do is comfort him as he dies. This is all graphically shown. There have been some complaints about the level of blood shown in this series. But I want to defend it. There is nothing - absolutely nothing - heroic or beautiful about war. It is nasty and brutal and shows the deepest savagery and most depraved aspects of humanity. These should rightly make us question what humanity is - what it means to be human and alive. Warmongers get away with it by refusing to show war as it is. Only when we are brave enough to stare at the brutality and stupidity of war - stare it in the face and know it for the ridiculous and tragic thing that it is, will we begin to try to understand one another, love one another, and begin to know peace. Tolstoy knew this. It is one of the deep messages of the book. The Battle of Borodino, superbly shown here, bears this message out. The final, sad picture most of all. Andrei lies mortally wounded on a rough wooden table next to a young man who is having his shattered legs amputated. That young man is the same man who, months earlier, had seduced and nearly eloped with Natasha. Anatole Kuragin lies dying in agony. The man Andrei had wanted to kill. In this moment of truth, how does Andrei react? He holds Anatole's hand. Because, in the end, when all is finished, only love remains.
This week saw things finally reaching the heart of the matter. The differences between Andrei and Pierre were manifest. Pierre's suffering and introspection has already seen him beginning to look beyond the "illusion" we call "life", to see everything in a wider and wiser context. Andrei, for all his goodness, is trapped in a cold intellectuality that causes him to see things in terms that are too black and white - at least at the beginning. His relationship with Natasha lies in ruins thanks to a mistake spawned by a combination of her immaturity and his over-cautiousness and inability to oppose his father. An act of forgiveness would have mended things, but Andrei is unwilling to go there. Only Pierre's understanding nature prevents Andrei losing his friendship as well.
Meanwhile, the ruined relationship, and Andrei's growing discontent with his military career, combined with a dawning awareness of the futility of war finally causes him to behave in a suicidal manner at the Battle of Borodino as he fails to drop for cover when a whirling cannon-grenade lands near his men. He literally and willingly stares death in the face...
Pierre is also busy on the battlefield and is rapidly coming to similar conclusions about war. While helping out a cannon emplacement he is nearly killed when he and a soldier he has come to know are blown up by the detonation of an ammunition box as it receives a French direct hit. The young soldier is literally blown in half. All Pierre can do is comfort him as he dies. This is all graphically shown. There have been some complaints about the level of blood shown in this series. But I want to defend it. There is nothing - absolutely nothing - heroic or beautiful about war. It is nasty and brutal and shows the deepest savagery and most depraved aspects of humanity. These should rightly make us question what humanity is - what it means to be human and alive. Warmongers get away with it by refusing to show war as it is. Only when we are brave enough to stare at the brutality and stupidity of war - stare it in the face and know it for the ridiculous and tragic thing that it is, will we begin to try to understand one another, love one another, and begin to know peace. Tolstoy knew this. It is one of the deep messages of the book. The Battle of Borodino, superbly shown here, bears this message out. The final, sad picture most of all. Andrei lies mortally wounded on a rough wooden table next to a young man who is having his shattered legs amputated. That young man is the same man who, months earlier, had seduced and nearly eloped with Natasha. Anatole Kuragin lies dying in agony. The man Andrei had wanted to kill. In this moment of truth, how does Andrei react? He holds Anatole's hand. Because, in the end, when all is finished, only love remains.