Doctor Zhivago Film Review

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO/*** (PG)

December 22, 1965.

Yuri Zhivago: Omar Sharif

Komarovsky: Rod Steiger

Lara: Julie Christie

Pasha/Strelnikov: Tom Courtney

Alexander Gromeko:Ralph Richardson

General Yevgrav Alec Guiness

Zhivago:

Tonya Gromeko Geraldine Chaplin

Zhivago

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a film directed by David Lean. Written by Robert Bolt and based on the novel by Boris Pasternak. Running time: 200 minutes. Rated PG (mature themes are presented)

Lara: Wouldn't it have been lovely if we'd met before?

Zhivago: Before we did? Yes.

Lara: We'd have got married, had a house and children. If we'd had children, Yuri, would you like a boy or girl?

Zhivago: I think we may go mad if we think about all that.

Lara: I shall always think about it.

The epic film "Dr. Zhivago" successfully captures the realities of pre and post revolutionary Russia, with a true soap opera feeling. Costumes, set design, art direction and Robert Bolt's screenplay depict the reality of those times. With a running time of 200 minutes, the movie drags on and on but not without meaning. Directed by David Lean and based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, the events captured on film narrates the story of Dr. Zhivago, its main character.

Poet and doctor Yuri Zhivago, played by Omar Sharif, enters the story as a little boy who attends his mother’s funeral. Her Russian guitar is all that he is left with. Later on, we find out that this instrument has a significant meaning , as it reappears in parts of the film. It is one thing that can be associated with Dr. Zhivago, as it holds tremendous importance for him. Dr. Zhivago’s story is cleverly told by his half-brother, Yevgrav (Alec Guiness). He narrates Zhivago's tale to a young orphan girl thought to be the love child of Yuri and Lara. The audience becomes anxious to hear this tale, along with the young orphan.

Sent to live with his uncle, Alexander Gromeko (Ralph Richardson), Yuri is not of the working class. He lives the life of the upper class but is extremely meek. Then the story shifts to another character by the name of Lara (Julie Christie), and we find out about her life. As a young woman, she becomes involved with her mother's lover, Komarovsky played by Rod Steiger. After Lara ends their relationship by shooting him at a Christmas dinner party, that relationship is short lived. Moments later, the viewers become aware of Lara's relationship with Pasha/Strelnikov(Tom Courtney), a revolutionary idealist, who she later marries. But eventually fate takes its course. The initial meeting between Lara and Dr. Zhivago occurs when her mother poisons herself due to her suspicion of Komarovsky's affair with her daughter. Dr. Zhivago comes to the rescue.

The audience is aware that the story is set as a flashback, narrated by General Yevgrav Zhivago. Basically, this man's mission is to find his niece, Lara and Yuri's child. The viewers’ interest hold as the tale progresses, for they are also being told a story meant for an orphan. The story line engages anyone who is curious about this orphan's parents. In fact, just like a common soap opera, relationships are established and then torn apart. Here, the perils of war keep bringing Dr. Zhivago and Lara together and tearing them apart. For instance, Yevgrav tells the orphan the love story of her parents, as she had never met her father and was separated from her mother at the age of eight. Although Yuri married Tonya Gromeko (Geraldine Chaplin), a faithful wife, he and Lara yearned for each other and experienced a love apparently more intense than with their spouses. However, the ending of the film leaves us with something to be desired. When Lara's husband had gone to war and became a powerful leader, under the name of Strelnikov, Lara was in danger. Also, Yuri was hiding from being a deserter because he had escaped his forced position of doctor. The man that came to escort them to safety as a kind gesture was the violent and unamiable Komarovsky. Due to their history, Yuri