Genre: Drama / Romance
Length: 3h 17m 0s
Director: David Lean
Tagline: A Love Caught in the Fire of Revolution
Plot outline: Lara inspires lechery in Komarovsky (her mother's lover who is a master at surviving whoever runs Russia) and can't compete with passion for the revolution of the man she marries, Pasha. Her true love is Zhivago who also loves his wife. Lara is the one who inspires poetry. The story is narrated by Zhivago's half brother Yevgraf, who has made his career in the Soviet Army. At the beginning of the film he is about to meet a young woman he believes may be the long lost daughter of Lara and Zhivago. Summary written by Dale O'Connor {daleoc@interaccess.com} Set just before and in the years following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the filme follows the life of Zhivago as he marries, raises a family, has his life totally disrupted by first World War One, and then by the Revolution. Shown against the Epic of a world turned on its head, his life and freedom are torn from him as the new society makes demands. Summary written by John Vogel {jvogel@dgs.dgsys.com} A Russian epic, the movie traces the life of surgeon-poet Yury Zhivago before and during the Russian Revolution. Married to an upper-class girl who is devoted to him, yet in love with an unfortunate woman who becomes his muse, Zhivago is torn between fidelity and passion. Sympathetic with the revolution but shaken by the wars and purges, he struggles to retain his individualism as a humanist amid the spirit of collectivism. Summary written by {dapao@hotvoice.com}
Comment: By the mid-1960s the giant epic had about run its course and "Dr. Zhivago" was one of the last true Hollywood epics that dominated the cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. "Dr. Zhivago" is a very large film that shows the triumphs and tragedies of its titled character (Omar Sharif in easily his greatest role). The doctor/poet seems trapped in the awful Bolshevik Revolution of the 1910s and early-1920s in his native Russia. While having no real political views of his own, he just cannot escape a life of war and violence. We see him as a young boy and to his early adulthood when he marries who he feels is the love of his life (Geraldine Chaplin), but of course he falls later on for his one true love (a very young Julie Christie). Naturally there is conflict though as Christie is little more than a slave to the cold Rod Steiger and keep in mind that the shady Tom Courtenay (Oscar-nominated) is always around trying to create benefits for himself. Zhivago's half-brother Alec Guinness tells the long and sad story through voice-overs and flashbacks. The film is very, very long and it is not always a crisp running time. Sometimes spectacle gets in the way of the story and the actors and many times everyone just seems overwhelmed by the complicated screenplay and David Lean's opulent direction. Sharif and Christie are excellent, but the lesser the part, the more the others struggle through. Rod Steiger and Tom Courtenay seem to get in the way more than anything else and Alec Guinness has little more than a cameo appearance, his character could have been explored much further. All in all the film is impressive, but it cannot quite reach excellence due to several small holes in large areas. It is nonetheless a memorable cinematic experience. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
Country: USA
Language:
Subtitels: No ()
CDs: 0
| Quality: | Video (?x? @ ?.?? [[unknown] ?kb/s]) | Audio (?Hz ?bit ? chan. [[unknown] ?kb/s]) |
| Actors: | ||
| Omar Sharif | as | Yuri Zhivago |
| Julie Christie | as | Lara Antipova |
| Geraldine Chaplin | as | Tonya |
| Rod Steiger | as | Komarovsky |