The Storm of History: Sergei Bundarchuk’s War and Peace

By Alci Rengifo

The movies now give us an “epic” nearly every week of the year. Digital technology, corporate budgets and the public’s own, current thirst for shallow escapism have paved the way for visions both ludicrous and wondrous. Chiseled, tattooed ruffians bestrode kraken-like monsters in Aquaman, cyborgs levitate from futuristic cities buried in trash in Alita: Battle Angel. But what do these films have to say? As we wallow in popcorn excess, Janus Films restores and re-releases the grandest, deepest epic of all, Sergei…