MOVIE REVIEW: ‘DR. ZHIVAGO’

Submitted to: Dr. Aftab Kazi

Submitted by: Hareem Syed

1217-106

BS-SS 8

Dr. Zhivago, a movie of three hours and twenty minutes, directed by David Lean took my

historical interest by storm. The beauty of the movies is that it highlights the era of Russian

Revolution with such ease that the viewer feels like he is experiencing it for real. This movie has

further visualized a heart-wrenching yet a sweet love story that left me with a blissful feeling of

what love is.

Stories about love in a world gone mad don't come any more gorgeous, or any more sweepingly epic, than this. – Empire Magazine.

CHARACTERSTICKS OF CHARACTERS

The basic characters of Zhivago, is a sensitive man who strikes different people in different

ways. To childhood sweetheart ‘Geraldine Chaplin’ he is a devoted husband. To ‘Julie Christie’,

he is more of a passionate lover. To ‘Tom Courtenay’, he’s a symbol of the personal life which

revolution has supposedly killed. To ‘Alec Guinness’, he’s a man who must be saved from

himself. With so much going on with the central character, the character of Zhivago is made very

believable.

The love interest of Zhivago, Julie Christie is outstanding in a sensitive and full-blooded

portrayal of a girl who is used and discarded by Steiger, then marries Courtenay only to lose him

to his cause. Her happiness with Zhivago also ends by his refusal to leave Russia. Steiger, whose

early lechery for Miss Christie later becomes a distant love and respect was capably handles a

role which requires him to be callous and expedient without losing all warmth and sympathy.

Courtenay is an example of the “idealistic” liberal who will not compromise his principles and

thereby became cruel, vicious and totally dedicated to a philosophy which in time will no longer

condone his excesses.

SYNOPSIS OF THE DR. ZHIVAGO

Doctor Zhivago tells the story of Yury Zhivago, a man torn betweenhis love for two women

while caught in course of 20th century Russian history. Yury's mother dies when he is still a

young boy, and he is raised by his uncle Kolya. He enrolls at the university where he meets

Tonya. These two marry and have a son - Sasha.

Yury becomes a medical officer in the army. He meets Lara, a woman whom he has seen twice

before. Lara is married to Pasha, a young soldier who is missing, and she has come west to find

him. She has a daughter, Katya, whom she has left in Yuryatin.

Yury is captivated by Lara, but he returns to his wife and son in Moscow. Times are difficult,

and the family must struggle to find food and firewood so they decide to move to Varyniko. The

journey is long and difficult, but when they arrive they find plenty of food and wood. Yury goes

to the nearest city, Yuryatin where he sees Lara once more. They begin an affair that lasts two

months before Yury decides to break off contact and confess all to his wife. On his way, he is

captured by the partisan army, which conscripts him as a medical officer.

Yury is forced to remain with the army through the end of the war between the Tsarist Whites

and the Communist Reds. When he is released, he returns to Yuryatin to find Lara and then they

go to Varykino to hide. Yury's family has been exiled to Paris, and he is promised the

opportunity to join them. Yury tricks Lara into taking her daughter and going while he remains at

Varykino.

Yury returns to Moscow and finds work. He begins living with Marina, the daughter of a family

friend. He and Marina have two children. Yury's old friends Misha and Nicky encourage him to

resolve his divided loyalties toward Tonya and Marina. He finds a new job but soon he dies of a

heart attack.

Lara comes to the funeral and asks Yury's half-brother, if there is any way to track the location of

a child given away to strangers. She stays for several days and then disappears, likely dying in a

concentration camp. Years later, Misha and Nicky are fighting in World War II and encounter a

laundry-girl, Tanya, who tells them her life story. They determine that she is the daughter of Lara

and Yury.

MY OPINION

"Doctor Zhivago," is an example of a superb old-style craftsmanship at the service of a soppy

romantic vision, and although its offers historical drama, it all evaporates once you returns to the

fresh chemistry between the central characters. Watching this movie left me with delightful

feeling of love. An example of this is scene when the snow crystals dissolve into flowers and a

flower dissolves into Lara's face so effortlessly and yet with such beauty and grace.

Watching the film, I found it hard to believe that all the characters portrayed could be so

understand. Later, when Komarovsky offers Lara an opportunity to save the life of herself and

her child, I thought she should have taken it but again the movie left me by surprise. And the

final pathetic scene, with Zhivago staggering after the woman on the Moscow streets, is so

unforgivable and indefensible. So, its soppy and manipulative and mushy. But that train looks

real enough to ride. Thumbs up for Dr. Zhivago! WHAT A MOVIE!