Doctor Zhivago

Doctor Zhivago (1965) a film by David Lean

Doctor Zhivago is a film which honors the old tradition of Hollywood superproductions.It brings to life a story of passion and destiny in which a man is trapped between the love for two women and the tortuous flow of history in the days of the Russian revolution. And it does not save in resources to do it: great photography, amazing landscapes, talented casting and a fervid story, this is one of the movies that awakes nostalgia for the times before computer-generated imagery.

This is my first contact with the work of David Lean and I found impressive and exorbitant the level of his work. Whether producing a complete reconstruction of Moscow or mobilizing thousands of extras to reproduce a column of Partisans, this movie reveals itself as a great movie but also as a great creative human enterprise. This is the kind of monumental movies that can not be done anymore but that reminds of the great resources that cinema can use to deliver a story.

This is a huge story, but ultimately the keys to enter it are given by the great performances of the talented cast. Omar Sharif is superb, Alec Guiness is great and Julie Christie and Geraldine Chaplin perform greatly and are two of the most beautiful women captured in a film. The army of secondary actors do a great job and I really like the short performances of the Revolution Committee members that take over the house in Moscow and the Party representative in the Partisan Column, they are really scary.

Not to forget when watching this movie is the Hollywood world view that is embedded on it. This movie was released on the darkest days of the cold war and this film doesn't save the critics to the situation in the Soviet Union, and this is evident in the rough face of the Soviet incarnated in cold characters who fight the free spirit of Zhivago. It is a vindication to Boris Pasternak's work that this movie spreads the voice his work after all the difficulties he suffered to publish it.

Political statement, titanic film, carefully elaborated photography, astonishing landscapes, talented actors, memorable scenes. The only thing I don't like about this movie is that the soundtrack has been over played and mangled to attract kids to ice cream cars and I won't ever will be as fresh again. This is a great and memorable epic film from other times and when you reach the time of the intermission you will find out why.