Doctor Zhivago [PG]

A Russian General is looking for his long-lost niece. When he believes he has found her, it transpires that she cannot remember anything from her childhood and so he regales her with the romantic tale of Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet who lived and loved in a country that was divided by and stricken down by war: a place where you were to love your country or not love at all. 

Set against the harsh, frozen, and brutal background of the Russian Revolution, around the time of John Reed’s 10 Days That Shook The World era in history, Doctor Zhivago is another true cinema epic in the same league as Gone With the Wind and Titanic. Boasting an array of stunning performances, a beautiful soundtrack composed by Maurice Jarre, as well as some undefinable trait that prevents the long running time from being felt, Doctor Zhivago is a beautiful film and a true epic in cinematic history. You can always feel when a movie has historic significance and this one certainly does. 

A Russian General is looking for his long-lost niece. When he believes he has found her, it transpires that she cannot remember anything from her childhood and so he regales her with the romantic tale of Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet who lived and loved in a country that was divided by and stricken down by war: a place where you were to love your country or not love at all. 

The epic-ness of this movie comes in the form of its breathtaking attention to detail in terms of the costumes and the sets. Set in Russia during that time of World War and then Civil War, which we all learnt about in Modern History in high school: Lenin, Trotsky, the Provisional Government, the shooting of the Tsar, and the revolution, Doctor Zhivago is a movie that educates as well as horrifies its audiences by means of its incredible attention to detail in conveying its more dramatic scenes of forced poverty, starvation, and the eradication of class. Throughout the film we see various scenes and sceneries of charred remains of a farm seized in the name of the people, high society forced down to the working class and lower, and horrible bloodshed. Although comparable to Gone With the Wind by means of length and grandeur, Doctor Zhivago differs from the latter by having almost no glamour and next to no happy ending to any of the stories it embodies. 

Then amidst the blood, charred remains, and frozen scenery, we have this compelling love triangle that, although somewhat questionable, is actually really beautiful set against this background that dictates that the love of women and children are second to the love of your country. It’s very subtle, quite easily missed, but the fact that the film is centred around this one character, Yuri Zhivago; a man who may very well believe in the Bolshevik cause, but refuses to discard his personal feelings, opinions, and become a mere same-servant of the people, this is where the film’s romance and beauty becomes known. It’s a film that demands being watched on a deeper level and so, to a skin-deep level, it is perceived as being over three hours of absolutely nothing…but it’s so much more than that! I can’t explain how so, you’ll just have to watch and bear with it. 

Starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtney, Siobhan McKenna, and Ralph Richardson, Doctor Zhivago is an epic film filled with war, poverty, starvation, drama, romance, and history. Winning five Academy Awards and earning its place in The Book, it really is a masterpiece.