Hairpin and Ebert: Hairpin Begins Reviewing Films

“Doctor Zhivago” – reviewed by Hairpin March 25, 2020

"Doctor Zhivago" – It's one of those films that all cinephiles know or are expected to know.  I can't imagine what film school is like, but I imagine Doctor Zhivago is one of the foundational films all future directors study.  And they should.  Doctor Zhivago hit theatres in 1965.  It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 5 of them, though not any of the big ones like Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, Best Director.

It's March 2020 and the world is shut down for the COVID-19 virus and social distancing, so I am going back and watching these films cinephiles love.  I was hesitant because I hate following the herd, plus this film is over three hours long.  In the 21st century film studios discourage directors from making films longer than 2 hours, let alone 3.  After chickening out, then psyching myself up, I finally made my couch comfortable and set up 3 hours worth of snacks close by.  While I did devour 3 hours worth of snacks, Doctor Zhivago's pacing made it seem like a normal 2 hour movie.

Doctor Zhivago, a film by David Lean, tells two tales: The tale of Dr. Yuri Zhivago, a general practitioner, poet, and star-crossed lover as he navigates an ever changing world, and the tale of Russia and it's violent transformation from Tsarist Russia to Communist Russia.

I'll share my favorite nugget in the movie.  A hidden gem of a quote that transcends time and is still relevant today.  Zhivago's medical professor is trying to discourage Zhivago from becoming a General Practitioner and pursue research, but to no avail.  The professor knows his young and impressionable student is drawn to humans.  So he offhandedly warns young Zhivago, "Life ... He wants to see life ... Well you'll find that pretty creatures - do ugly things; to people."  It is a tiny, subtle foreboding of what's to come.  For Zhivago, for the cast, for Russia.

So many things about this movie stand out, but there are two things that jumped out at me.  1.) We always hear "love story, love story, remarkable love story" attached to this film, but David Lean, Director, and Robert Bolt, screenplay, detailed the gritty, alarming, and deadly transition from the Tsar Dynasty through the Bolshevik Revolution to Communism's infancy.  We see famished and starved Russian soldiers armed with sticks charging German machine guns, we see the rich bourgeois share their lavish homes with peasants, then lose their homes.  We see the outcome of civil war between Russia's White army and Red Army.  For those who don't know Russian history, the movie Doctor Zhivago provides a dramatic introduction to Russia in the early 20th Century.

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The second thing that jumped out at me was the unabashed sexual assault that occurred in the movie.  It wasn't a gratuitous nudity shot of a young beautiful woman that is common today, but Victor Komarovsky's (Rod Steiger) multiple assaults of Lara are jarring in the 21st century.  This film was from 1965.  I've never seen a portrayal of an unabashed sexual predator in a film so old.  Rod Steiger acting was so good, I wanted him shot.  To be clear, movies in this time may have insinuated a sexual assault occurred, but DZ showed Komarovsky overpowering Lara's fight and raping her without consent.  I am surprised the repressed Motion Picture Association of America allowed this scene to remain in the final cut.

Okay, on to my take on the "love story."  Meh.  Really.  Zhivago cheats on his wife Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) to be with Lara (Julie Christie), but when he sees how much it is bothering her he attempts to leave Lara and return to Tonya (before he is kidnapped into military service.)  I wanted to love the love story, I wanted to cry tears for unrequited love.  Instead, I came away thinking, this protagonist really doesn't know what he wants. 

Having said this, this is still an amazing film.  The Oscars for Best Writing, Best Cinematography, and Best Music Score are well deserved.  I'm shocked that Steiger wasn't nominated, but Tom Courtenay deservedly was nominated.  He played Lara's first love and future husband, Pasha Antipov (Strelnikov).  Of all the characters in the film, Courtenay's Pasha transforms the most, and not in a pleasant way.  Sir Alec Guinness deserves praise for his limited screen time as Zhivago's half brother Yevgraf Zhivago.   There are reams of "little things" in this movie I could review, but I forgot to mention the choice to begin the movie with Guinness' Yevgraf obtuse narrative that quickly gains focus and hooks the wannabe cinephile.  Great job by Lean and Guinness.

Again, great movie that still holds up.  Go see it.  I didn't give it 5 stars because the love story didn't live up to the hype that has been, well, that has been hyped, but I'm a cynic.  The rest of the movie is superb.

(This is actually my fourth film review.  See all my film (Eric Hairpin) reviews on letterboxd.com)