Dr Zhivago Movie
Dr. Zhivago Movie
The 1965 movie, Dr. Zhivago, takes a slight diversion from the novel by Boris Pasternak. My initial reading of Pasternak’s Nobel Prize winning novel told me a story of war, identity, and morality. It took individuals under normal circumstances and threw them into the tribulations of war and tragedy. This is emphasized by Yuri’s relationship with Lara. Though there was a strong sub-plot of love and romance, the strongest theme, to me, was that of the individual struggles during the Russian revolution, Civil War, and both World Wars. In the movie however, these two plots seemed reversed. Indeed, there were only background scenes and references of the war. It was primarily a romance between two souls separated by political conflict. To some, this is a subtle difference. But to me, upon reflection of Soviet history, the movie obscured the impact of the war and instead emphasized a love affair.
Beyond the plot differences, there were a handful of variations among the characters. One particularly important one, and a potential (but wasted) improvement from the book, was that of Pasha Antipov (Strelnikov). In the novel, he was largely out of sight and spoken of only through reference. True, there were many scenes in which he was the focus, but his character was more balanced between lover and revolutionary. In the movie, he was portrayed as an aggressive military activist first and foremost. His character serves to enhance the drama behind the war and the destruction it has brought to the people. This is easily seen in his conversation with Yuri, “Your feelings, insights, affections. It’s suddenly trivial now. You don’t agree? You’re wrong. The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it.”1 While this is an opportunity for the movie to emphasize the war, the director, David Lean, ignores it. Instead he has Yuri respond with a statement showing Yuri’s humanity, “I hate everything you say, but not enough to kill you for it.”2Admittedly, in the
The 1965 movie, Dr. Zhivago, takes a slight diversion from the novel by Boris Pasternak. My initial reading of Pasternak’s Nobel Prize winning novel told me a story of war, identity, and morality. It took individuals under normal circumstances and threw them into the tribulations of war and tragedy. This is emphasized by Yuri’s relationship with Lara. Though there was a strong sub-plot of love and romance, the strongest theme, to me, was that of the individual struggles during the Russian revolution, Civil War, and both World Wars. In the movie however, these two plots seemed reversed. Indeed, there were only background scenes and references of the war. It was primarily a romance between two souls separated by political conflict. To some, this is a subtle difference. But to me, upon reflection of Soviet history, the movie obscured the impact of the war and instead emphasized a love affair.
Beyond the plot differences, there were a handful of variations among the characters. One particularly important one, and a potential (but wasted) improvement from the book, was that of Pasha Antipov (Strelnikov). In the novel, he was largely out of sight and spoken of only through reference. True, there were many scenes in which he was the focus, but his character was more balanced between lover and revolutionary. In the movie, he was portrayed as an aggressive military activist first and foremost. His character serves to enhance the drama behind the war and the destruction it has brought to the people. This is easily seen in his conversation with Yuri, “Your feelings, insights, affections. It’s suddenly trivial now. You don’t agree? You’re wrong. The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it.”1 While this is an opportunity for the movie to emphasize the war, the director, David Lean, ignores it. Instead he has Yuri respond with a statement showing Yuri’s humanity, “I hate everything you say, but not enough to kill you for it.”2Admittedly, in the