A young Russian child living in Manchurian loses his mother and is adopted by a wealthy friend of his mother. The wealthy family accepts him as one of their own, encourages him to court their daughter and support his education to become a doctor. However, the young doctor's first love was poetry. He becomes a doctor and becomes entangled in the Russian turmoil beginning in the 1905 Revolution, WWI, the Revolutions and Civil War and the triumph of Stalin. His life moves from Manchuria to St. Petersburg, to various war fronts, back to revolutionary, then to Siberia and back to Moscow where he dies.
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The review of this Movie prepared by Abu Hamfat of Clan Jasmine
Possibly one of the best tragic love stories of modern times, David Lean's “Doctor Zhivago”
also qualifies as one of the best movies. Based upon Boris Pasternak's novel, the film stars
Omar Sharif as Zhivago and Julie Christie as Lara, a love that also qualifies as “star
crossed”--this time, Red Star crossed. Set in the time of the Russian Revolution, no quarter
is given on any grounds, as the Revolution is based on simple absolutes. Zhivago, poet as
well as surgeon, finds himself literally torn between the two loves of his live, his wife Tonya
(Geraldine Chaplin) and Lara. Filmed with all the majesty of the world and musically
underscored by Maurice Jarre (“Lawrence of Arabia”) with such sweeping ranges,
Director Lean--himself no stranger to epics--feels right at home with this one. The movie is
not to be compared with the Noble Prize winner's novel--no movie should be compared to a
book!--as cinematically it is one of the masterpieces, winning some five Oscars.
The review of this Movie prepared by Bill Hobbs
