Can you recognize yourself in this?

There are only two kinds of people, as far as this picture is concerned; those who love it, and those who can't stand it. There are virtually no viewers who can say "Ehh, it was OK, but nothing to get excited about." I have my own idea of why this is.

It's impossible to see this film and not see elements of yourself as you could be. I say "could be," because it all hinges on how willing you are to allow yourself to be vulnerable. If you are fortunate enough to have read Pasternak's novel, you will understand the inevitability of Doctor Zhivago winning the Nobel Prize for literature. It is one of those works that stands, even today, as a monument to humanity.

Sadly, for all his perceptiveness, Pasternak was cruelly mistreated by Communism, as was his hero. The character of Lara was modeled on his own real life love and long-time companion, Olga Ivinskaya. As in the book, Olga outlived Boris, who died in 1960. Olga died at the age of 82 in Moscow, in 1995. Boris, who should have received his Prize in 1958, was prevented by the Communists. Somehow, I think he would have approved of the filmization of his book.

You cringed a bit at my mention of vulnerability? No need to. Doctor Zhivago is a virtual study in the various faces of vulnerability -- all of which are necessary to life. Sadly, it is also a study of the myriad ways in which we resist our vulnerability.

Yuri Zhivago's own vulnerability is born with the death of his mother and his receiving her balalika to remember her by. Oh, by the way, if you think the dark good looks of the youthful Yuri was good foreshadowing of the dark good looks of the adult Yuri, it's only natural. Yuri-the-boy is played (well, too) by Tarek Sharif!

Yuri's vulnerability was his immense capacity to give love. Even as he was prevented from a normal giving of his love to his parents and, in particular, his mother, he spent the rest of his life giving it to all mankind. He gave through his poetry, and through his medicine, and through his deep and committed love for two women.

Lara Guishar's vulnerability arises from her naive innocence and her rape at the hands of her mother's lover. Even more complex than Yuri, Lara is vulnerable to the physical pleasures afforded by her rapist/lover, and to the deeply committed honorable love of her fiancee Pasha Antipov. Pasha, on the other hand, is bound by his personal vulnerability to principle, altruistic ideals, and political fervor.

Tonya Zhivago's vulnerability is to the traditions of marriage, and her genuine love for her husband. Her father, Alexander Gromeko, is tightly bound by his vulnerability to the perquisites and status of the aristocracy before the Revolution. Even the despicable Komarovsky has his own vulnerabilities which, despite his resistance to them, threaten to destroy him. His vulnerabilities are to a personal remorse for what he has done to Lara, and, among others, an almost shameful envy and respect for Yuri's unshakable honor.

We all have our own forms of these vulnerabilities, and we all have our own fear of them. We fear them because being vulnerable means that others have the ability and power to touch our innermost beings, often in painful ways. The greatest vulnerability of all, lives in each of the characters in Doctor Zhivago, and that is the vulnerability to love.

The people who will most appreciate this story and this movie are those who have a love; a love to which they are vulnerable and which guides their lives. My wife Eve and I had such a love when we saw this movie for the first time. Without analysis, we melded with the story, the characters, and the mind boggling images created by David Lean. We laughed and we wept, together of course, and our love was somehow strengthened and grew more enduring.

Today, twenty years after a drunk driver took her from me, that love still endures as vital and bright as it did the night we saw this movie together for the first time. We saw the movie several more times before she was killed, and were more and more impressed by it with each viewing. Since her death I have seen the movie many many times, thrilling to their love realized, and sobbing with personally felt grief at their love frustrated. It speaks to me of my life with Eve.

Hey, people, this film is melodramatic - yes! This film is long - yes! The characters are overdone - not for an instant. As much as I dislike Komarovsky (and the bluster of Rod Steiger in playing him), I must acknowledge that there is a tiny little bit of him in me, too. You see, folks, this movie -- as with Pasternak's novel - is about real people with real feelings and real problems and real frustrations and disappointments.

I could go on at length, but my words would be meaningless in comparison to seeing the movie for yourself. And, it is in the seeing that the transcendent beauty of this film overwhelms your senses with sheer wonder. There are scenes and scenes and scenes of beauty used to connect this tale of hope and disappointment, of tenderness and brutality, of war and peace, of the depths of human indignity and the heights of human nobility.

The film was shot in Spain for the temperate vistas, and in Finland for the authentic cold of the Winter portions. Some scenes will live forever in your memories of beauty. There is Yuri's wandering through fields of flowers when their train is sidetracked to allow passage of Strelnikov's war train. There is sunlight filtering through the poplars like a promise of God's eternal caring.

And the Winter scenes. The frosty windows with their patterns of ice, and the surrealistic beauty of the frost-filled family dacha at Varikynov. There is even the cruel beauty of Yuri's (genuinely) frost crusted face as he flees from his conscriptors. And, the list goes on and on almost without end.

Throughout the entire movie is the hauntingly beautiful score by Maurice Jarre, featuring "Lara's Theme," "Somewhere My Love." The way in which this lovely theme can be manipulated to convey threat or reassurance, tension or relief, life or death is magnificent and must be heard to be appreciated.

I won't tell you any more, other than to say that just thinking of the ending brings tears to my eyes right now. Are they tears of sadness, or tears of joy -- you'll have to find out for yourself by seeing the movie.

OK, I MUST acknowledge the cast, so here goes. I won't get into individual mentions and comments, relying on your own intelligence to know that they are all superb in their roles.


Yuri Zhivago is played by Omar Sharif; Lara Guishar is played by Julie Christie; Tonya Zhivago is played by Geraldine Chaplin; Komarovsky is played by Rod Steiger; Pasha Antipov/General Strelnikov is played by Tom Courtenay; Alexander Gromeko is played by Sir Ralph Richardson; General Yevgraf Zhivago is played by Alec Guinness; Anna is played by Siobhan McKenna; "The Girl" is played by Rita Tushingham; Kostoyed is played by Klaus Kinski. Oh, heck, the rest of the cast is great as well, and sitting there and reading the closing credits to find out who they are will give you time to blow your nose and dry your eyes.

I love this movie and, if you're not afraid to look at your own vulnerabilities, I think you will, too. Won't you please watch it?