After the Revolution,and in Napoleon's time ,it became possible for common people to become officers in the army.Jean -Roch Coignet was one of these self-made men,although he could read and write ,which was not usual at the beginning of the nineteenth century.So he wrote the story of his campaigns with the emperor (the right title of the mini-series is "Les Cahiers Du Capitaine Coignet"=Captain Coignet's notebooks").His depiction of the Russian campaign is particularly impressive and in spite of a modest budget,the mini-series do a good job .There's a frequent use of the hero's voice-over but the movie does not suffer for it .