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... [continues]

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