Original subtitles

["Pomp and Circumstance March No.

1 in D minor, Op.

67, No.

2 in F minor, Op.

67, No.

2 in F minor"]

["Pomp and Circumstance March No.

1 in D minor, Op.

67, No.

2 in F minor"] Julie, my dear.

How nice to see you.

How is Boris?

Have you heard from him?

Oh, yes.

He writes regularly.

I have no complaints on that score.

And, of course, being on Kutuzov's staff, he never has trouble with mails.

Oh, you're lucky.

Poor Nikolai.

Sometimes his letters take two months to arrive.

You really should tell him to send them first to Boris.

Oh, I have told him a thousand times.

Do you know, Nikolai, he just won't ask people for favours.

She looks well, Mama, doesn't she?

Very well.

Married life agrees with you.

Well, I have a perfect husband.

I won't deny it.

Boris is a pet and so attentive.

But I'm pleased to see Natasha has quite recovered.

Yes, she seems almost back to her old self.

She's even started to sing again.

She was very ill.

However, that's all over now.

Have you managed to sell the house yet?

Well, no, no, not really.

The Count, you know, is not exactly the best businessman in the world.

He's so attached to it, Mama.

He finds it very difficult to part with it.

Oh, my dear, it should have been done ages ago.

What is the use of hanging on?

Every offer he gets, he thinks if he waits, he'll get a better one tomorrow.

Perhaps he's right.

With everyone leaving Moscow, it's not the best of times to sell.

Everyone isn't leaving, surely?

Well, quite a few, I hear.

You mean you think there's a danger?

Oh, no.

But people talk, you know.

I heard yesterday they were planning to move the government offices.

It's inconceivable the French would ever enter Moscow.

Why, the army wouldn't let them.

They do say, though, that things look bad.

Oh, I don't believe it.

Now, they could reduce office and command.

The French are all spineless when it comes to facing a real army.

They are beyond Smolensk, Mama.

Oh, don't talk such nonsense.

Smolensk, indeed.

Why, we left it just to trap them.

Do you imagine the Tsar would let them take Moscow?

I agree.

Why, Boris used to say that when it came to a real battle, one Russian peasant

woman could toss three French soldiers at a time with a hay fork.

What a thought.

Must have been thinking of the women on our estate at Otravno.

Are you returning there?

Well, of course.

Well, not because of any danger to Moscow.

That's just silly street talk.

But we're giving up the house here, so there's no

point in staying on now that Natasha is well again.

When are you leaving?

As soon as I get my hands on Petya.

You know he joined a regiment of Cossacks.

No!

We couldn't stop him.

He threatened to run away.

They sent him to Balaya Zerkov.

The regiment was being formed there.

My dear, I haven't closed my eyes since.

What are you going to do?

Well, Pierre Buzukhov, as usual, came to the rescue and suggested we get

him transferred to Buzukhov's own regiment, which is being trained near Moscow.

I certainly won't go until Petya gets here.

Well, I'm off tomorrow.

Back to St. Petersburg.

I just came in to say goodbye.

Then you do think Moscow's in danger.

Good heavens, no.

Well, why are you leaving?

Well, everyone I know seems to be going back to Petersburg.

Moscow can be so dreary when all one's friends are away.

Well, we arranged it at last.

Julie, my dear, what a nice surprise.

Is Boris well?

Very well.

Hello, Pierre.

Hello.

Hello.

Oh, the crowds at the government office.

It's so depressing.

Oh, you can hardly get into the place.

But did you arrange it?

Pierre managed it.

My dear, a man with a regiment of his own.

There's nothing they wouldn't do for him.

And how is the Buzukhov regiment kind?

Don't talk to me about it.

I'm sick to death of it.

It must be costing you a fortune.

Well, that's the least of my problems.

You will lead it in person, of course.

Ha!

No, no, no.

I should make too good a target for the French.

And besides, I don't think there is a horse that would be willing to carry me.

Well, I must go home now.

Please don't get up.

Petya will be back in Moscow by the end of the week.

Oh, you're an angel.

Goodbye.

Why don't you come to dinner tomorrow?

We never see you these days.

Yes, well, we'll see.

We'll see.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

I'll walk to the door with you.

Thank you.

He'll knock into the table in the hall.

He always does it.

He's such a kind man.

Oh, one ought not to laugh, Mama.

Kind?

He's the kindest man I know.

Wish we were all like him.

So, Julie, you're leaving Moscow and going back to Petersburg.

Count Rostovshin further denied that he had forbidden people to leave Moscow.

On the contrary, he was glad that ladies and merchants' wives were leaving the city.

There will be less panic and less gossip, he said.

But I will stake my life that the scoundrel will never set foot in Moscow.

If this game comes out, it means I shall go into the army.

Why?

Perhaps it means I won't go into the army.

Come in!

Come in!

Forgive me, cousin, for disturbing you, but

you know it's time you came to a decision.

A decision?

Everyone is leaving Moscow and the people are rioting.

Why do we stay here?

Ah, but you haven't read the latest broadsheet.

Count Rostovshin says that everything is

satisfactory and that Moscow is in no danger.

That fool, he knows nothing.

Or if he does, he's not saying.

Things are getting bad, I can tell you.

My maid is becoming insolent.

At this rate we shall all be slaughtered in our beds.

Well, it's true.

It's not safe to walk the streets.

I've been walking them not an hour since.

You don't concern yourself with things around you.

Your thoughts are always way up there somewhere.

But of this I am certain.

The French will be here any day and I couldn't possibly live under French rule.

Where did you get your information from?

It's there if you look for it.

Varavara told me the mob nearly killed her

because she started to say something in French.

Ah, yes.

Well, that is unfortunate.

But don't you think you exaggerate?

No, I do not.

I tell you I won't submit to your Napoleon.

My Napoleon?

Well, you've always defended him.

The man of the new world, isn't that what you called him?

Yes, yes I did.

And if I may say so, cousin, it's that kind

of opinion that has disarmed us for so long.

No!

I don't accept that.

Those things aren't as simple as a row of knitting.

Well, I didn't come in to talk politics.

The point is, if you won't leave Moscow yourself, will

you please give orders to have me taken to St. Petersburg?

Yes.

Yes, of course, if you want to go.

But why don't you go yourself?

Well, I don't know.

I can't make up my mind.

If this game comes out, it means that I shall stay in Moscow.

Why?

Why can't it mean you'll leave Moscow?

Well, it can.

Do.

Oh, really, I don't have time for such things.

Will you please make arrangements for me to leave?

Yes, cousin, of course, of course.

Tomorrow.

Very well.

I tell you once and for all, my dear fellow,

throw all such proclamations into the fire!

Let the soldiers cut the cross and burn the wood to their hearts' content!

I don't order it, but I can't stop it.

Well, it's Volkonsky, isn't it?

Yes, Your Excellency.

Well, how are you, my dear boy?

Well, thank you.

And how is your father?

I received news of his death yesterday.

Oh, God rest his soul.

I loved and respected him.

He was a great man.

I sympathize with you.

Come.

Let's go and have a chat.

Keep everyone out.

Sit down, please.

Oh, how sad.

The old Prince gone, eh?

Well, so must we all.

Tell me about it.

When he realized they had to leave Bald Hills,

he had apparently some scheme to defend it.

Oh, he would.

But it was all too much for him.

He died at my estate in Bogacharvo.

The French, of course, are now in occupation of both.

What a pass they've brought us to.

But give me time.

Time and patience.

That's all I want, nothing more.

I'll have the meeting horse-flesh before long.

We shall have to accept a battle, shan't we?

Of course, of course.

Everyone insists on it.

That's why they brought me back.

Even the French want it.

It won't do any good, but we shall have a battle.

Any good for whom?

For us or for the French.

What can it accomplish?

The casualties will be immense.

It'll make it more difficult for us to defend Moscow afterwards.

And as for the French, they risk a major defeat

hundreds of miles inside an enemy country.

Why do you agree, then?

What can I do?

Everyone wants it.

The Germans say you must have a battle.

They've got textbooks to prove it.

And the Tsar has read them.

Everyone's read them, so we have no alternative

but to have a battle here at Borodino.

Because this is where we were when the Tsar said, no further.

I thought we had fallen back on this position in order to give battle.

First of all, what position?

It's not more a position than you'd find

anywhere in Russia by sticking a pin in the map.

And secondly, we haven't fallen back in order to do anything.

People are saying we have been leading the French into a trap.

There's no trap.

We've fallen back because we've never once been able

to assemble the entire army together in one place.

Until now.

Will we win tomorrow?

We shall be in exactly the same position tomorrow as we are today.

Relatively, that is.

We shall be 20,000 men less.

But then so will the French.

I think the Emperor Napoleon would not agree with you.

Ah, but then he believes he's a military genius.

People have been telling him so for years, so naturally he believes it.

If he wins decisively tomorrow, people will say, there you are,

I told you so, he's a genius.

I think you may not.

In which case they'll say he had a cold in the head and wasn't thinking very clearly.

And Moscow?

Moscow.

Will it be abandoned?

Does it matter?

Napoleon thinks the war will be won when he gets to Moscow.

What is Moscow?

A collection of houses on a river, that's not Russia.

That's not the living heart of Russia.

I wouldn't sacrifice a single soldier to defend it.

You understand, I say all this to you because you are your father's son.

For the rest, we've not only read the textbooks, but we believe in them.

You sent for me to take on my old post.

I want you here with me.

I came to tell you that I don't think I'm suited to staff work anymore.

I've grown used to my regiment.

I'm fond of them and I think they're fond of me.

We've retreated together all the way from the Polish frontier.

I wouldn't want to leave them now that the first big battle is about to start.

Well, I'm sorry for that.

You would have been useful to me.

But you're right.

It's not here that men are needed.

One can always find advisors, but I remember you at Austerlitz with the standard.

Yes, we should have more like you.

Now remember, if you want anything, come straight to me.

Look at me as your father.

Thank you.

Better walk from here.

You go back to the village and meet me there.

Choir singing National

Anthem of Poland

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Kampersuchhof.

Kampersuchhof.

What on earth are you doing here?

Oh, I came to look.

I felt I had to come.

I had to be with the army.

What an extraordinary thing to do.

I walked in the way.

No, but it'll be dangerous when the action starts.

What is that village over there?

Borodino.

I've been trying to work out our position.

It's all so confusing.

It's not at all what I expected.

Well, Borodino is the right flank of our position.

It was our center yesterday, but we've moved the whole

line to the left of the Smolensk-Moscow high road.

Why was that done?

Because of the repositioning of the French.

Look here.

Would you like me to show you around?

Kudusov knows you, I believe.

I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

You wouldn't be in any trouble?

Not at all.

I'd be delighted.

Do you know where Prince Volkonsky's regiment is?

Yes, we shall pass it.

They're being held in reserve when the engagement begins.

Look, come on.

I'll find you a horse.

Hello.

What are you doing here?

This is no place for a civilian.

Ah, Boris Dublekskoi has been showing me around.

It's very interesting.

I wanted to see the battle.

I see.

And what do your Freemason brethren think about the war?

Well, sit down.

Thank you.

I haven't come at the best of times.

This is Major Timokhin, my second-in-command.

So now you understand the disposition of our troops?

Ah, well, no, not exactly.

I understand the general arrangement, yes.

Then you know more than anyone.

Did you see my sister?

No.

No, I heard that she'd arrived in Moscow.

I think she's going to Vernezh.

Everyone seems to be leaving Moscow.

Very wise.

Tell me, what did you think of the appointment of Kutuzov?

I welcomed it, that's all I can say.

Wasn't Bacalaide at all an able general?

I don't know what is meant by an able general.

Well, one that foresees the adversary's intentions.

That's really quite impossible, for the most part,

since the adversary never knows them himself.

Yeah.

Yet they say that war is like a game of chess.

Hmm.

Who says it?

The people who fight wars from armchairs.

In chess, you can think over a move as long as you like.

In war, one doesn't have that luxury.

In chess, a knight is always stronger than a

pawn, and two pawns are always stronger than one.

In war, a battalion is sometimes stronger than

a division, and sometimes weaker than a company.

Relative strengths have very little to do with the issue.

On what does success depend, then?

On the feeling that's in him.

And in me.

A battle is won by the side that's most resolved to win it.

Don't numbers make any difference at all?

They make very little.

Did you ask yourself why we lost at Austerlitz?

French casualties were about the same as ours,

and we had actually more men than they did.

We lost because early on in the day we said to ourselves we were losing, and we did.

That's true, Your Excellency.

We had nothing to fight for then.

We wanted to get away from the battlefield as soon as possible.

But tomorrow it won't be like this.

We're fighting on our own soil.

It makes a big difference.

Yes.

If I had my way, I'd take no prisoners.

War is a farce, the way we play it.

All this magnanimity and chivalry, we make a game of it.

What are they doing here, the French?

They plunder our homes, kill our wives and children,

and then talk of honour and the rules of war.

I say no quarter, kill or be killed.

If it were like that, then people would never go to

war, except for something worth facing death for.

War is the vilest thing in human life.

We should have done with the humbug of it.

Its aim and end is murder, and those who do

it for a living are the most honoured of all.

Every monarch in the world wears military uniform and bestows

the highest honours on those people who kill the most.

Each side prays to God for victory before the battle

and thanks God for victory afterwards, if they get it.

As if God cares.

As if he cares.

Well, I'll leave.

I do hope I haven't intruded.

Yes, old fellow, I think it's time you went.

What?

It's a good night's sleep before the battle.

Yes.

Yes, I should go.

Well, goodbye, old friend.

I hope you have...

Here.

Thank you.

Well, you have all the dispositions.

What else?

Well, I think we should place 40,000 men to

the flank and rear of the Russian left wing.

I think that is essential.

And how do you propose to do that?

By sweeping well to the south of the old

Smolensk-Moscow high road and then moving north.

And when would you do it?

Well, the night before the main engagement.

Most of the battle will be fought on this redoubt here.

Now, if we can place ourselves in a commanding position behind the Russian

left, we move this broken formation into the pocket formed by the Kalatsha-Moscow

river before they have time to either retreat or reform.

But you'd have to take 40,000 men out of the center to do it.

I think it's the best maneuver.

I do not.

I don't want the center weakened.

But once we're in position, we will be able

to divert an equal number of the Russians.

Once you're in position, yes, but suppose you don't get there in time.

Well, I'm sure we can by forced marching.

It's too dangerous.

Oh, I don't think so.

Well, now allow me to say that I think it is too dangerous a maneuver.

But, sire, once we're in position... No!

You're always returning the enemy.

This battle will be won in the center.

It will be a hard slog.

But once we're through, we're through.

We shall have inflicted the utmost damage.

There will be no question of a recovery.

I need every division here to throw against that redoubt.

Is that all?

Yes, sire.

That is all.

Bring me my clothes and ask Monsieur de Beauce to come in.

Monsieur de Beauce, you've had a long journey from Paris.

The longer the better, sire.

I expected nothing less than to see you before the gates of Moscow.

What is Paris saying?

All Paris regrets your absence, sire.

And what have we here?

My son.

Yes, sire.

The King of Rome.

I shall have it hung outside my tent... so that the troops can see it.

But it will be brought in before the action begins.

He's too young to look on the field of battle...

yet.

Fire!

Fire!

Fire!

Charge!

Charge!

A little pause... and we are back.

What are you doing here?

Get off the road!

I'm looking for Marshal Cotuso's headquarters.

It's been shifted.

I don't know where it is.

Now get off the road!

Get off the road!

Who are you?

Come here, Bezuhov.

I got a bit lost down there.

I saw you up here.

You can't stay here.

You'll be in the way.

Where are the five and seven guns?

You better keep your head down.

The French have got our aid.

Can I do anything?

Open the ammunition!

Orders to move forward, Your Excellency.

To the outfield near the Redoubt.

We must wait there.

Close up.

We're moving forward.

And don't straggle.

Those are chargers.

Where's the canisters?

That's all there was.

There's no canisters left, sir.

Idiots.

What are they doing to us?

Jump to the reserves and bring some back here.

I'm coming in.

Well,

Rapp, you bring good news?

Yes, sir.

I can promise the battle is won.

If you can send in a division of the young guard.

You say you need reinforcements at this hour?

Casualties are heavy, sir.

We make progress.

Progress, butts!

You already have half the army concentrated against one miserable Russian wing.

I'm not yet ready to throw in my reserves.

Go and take another look at the battle and report again.

Fire!

We've been driven back from Borodino, Your Highness, but are mounting another attack.

I have to report that Prince Bagration is wounded.

Badly?

Yes, Your Highness.

He must leave the field.

Present my compliments to General Doktyarov.

Ask him to take command of the second army.

Why don't they let us move in?

This waiting is worse than fighting.

Tell those men not to stand so close together!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Tell them to stop it!

Don't go on!

It's madness!

Madness!

Why are those men standing up over there?

Tell them to get down!

Get down!

Get down!

Get down!

Get down!

Get down!

Get down!

Get down!

Get down!