The document provides a review and summary of the 1965 film "Dr. Zhivago". It describes the film as a 3 hour and 20 minute epic love story set during the Russian Revolution. The film highlights the era with ease and tells a heart-wrenching yet sweet love story between Dr. Zhivago and Lara that leaves the viewer with a sense of what true love is. It then provides character descriptions of the main characters Zhivago, Lara, and others, as well as a synopsis of the film's plot which follows Zhivago as he is torn between his love for his wife and Lara against the backdrop of 20th century Russian history.

1. MOVIE REVIEW: ‘DR. ZHIVAGO’
Submitted to: Dr. Aftab Kazi
Submitted by: Hareem Syed
1217-106
BS-SS 8

2. Dr. Zhivago, a movie of three hours and twenty minutes, directed by David Lean took my
historical interest by storm. The beauty of the movies is that it highlights the era of Russian
Revolution with such ease that the viewer feels like he is experiencing it for real. This movie has
further visualized a heart-wrenching yet a sweet love story that left me with a blissful feeling of
what love is.
Stories about love in a world gone mad don't come any more gorgeous, or any
more sweepingly epic, than this. – Empire Magazine.
CHARACTERSTICKS OF CHARACTERS
The basic characters of Zhivago, is a sensitive man who strikes different people in different
ways. To childhood sweetheart ‘Geraldine Chaplin’ he is a devoted husband. To ‘Julie Christie’,
he is more of a passionate lover. To ‘Tom Courtenay’, he’s a symbol of the personal life which
revolution has supposedly killed. To ‘Alec Guinness’, he’s a man who must be saved from
himself. With so much going on with the central character, the character of Zhivago is made very
believable.
The love interest of Zhivago, Julie Christie is outstanding in a sensitive and full-blooded
portrayal of a girl who is used and discarded by Steiger, then marries Courtenay only to lose him
to his cause. Her happiness with Zhivago also ends by his refusal to leave Russia. Steiger, whose
early lechery for Miss Christie later becomes a distant love and respect was capably handles a
role which requires him to be callous and expedient without losing all warmth and sympathy.
Courtenay is an example of the “idealistic” liberal who will not compromise his principles and
thereby became cruel, vicious and totally dedicated to a philosophy which in time will no longer
condone his excesses.
SYNOPSIS OF THE DR. ZHIVAGO
Doctor Zhivago tells the story of Yury Zhivago, a man torn betweenhis love for two women
while caught in course of 20th century Russian history. Yury's mother dies when he is still a

3. young boy, and he is raised by his uncle Kolya. He enrolls at the university where he meets
Tonya. These two marry and have a son - Sasha.
Yury becomes a medical officer in the army. He meets Lara, a woman whom he has seen twice
before. Lara is married to Pasha, a young soldier who is missing, and she has come west to find
him. She has a daughter, Katya, whom she has left in Yuryatin.
Yury is captivated by Lara, but he returns to his wife and son in Moscow. Times are difficult,
and the family must struggle to find food and firewood so they decide to move to Varyniko. The
journey is long and difficult, but when they arrive they find plenty of food and wood. Yury goes
to the nearest city, Yuryatin where he sees Lara once more. They begin an affair that lasts two
months before Yury decides to break off contact and confess all to his wife. On his way, he is
captured by the partisan army, which conscripts him as a medical officer.
Yury is forced to remain with the army through the end of the war between the Tsarist Whites
and the Communist Reds. When he is released, he returns to Yuryatin to find Lara and then they
go to Varykino to hide. Yury's family has been exiled to Paris, and he is promised the
opportunity to join them. Yury tricks Lara into taking her daughter and going while he remains at
Varykino.
Yury returns to Moscow and finds work. He begins living with Marina, the daughter of a family
friend. He and Marina have two children. Yury's old friends Misha and Nicky encourage him to
resolve his divided loyalties toward Tonya and Marina. He finds a new job but soon he dies of a
heart attack.
Lara comes to the funeral and asks Yury's half-brother, if there is any way to track the location of
a child given away to strangers. She stays for several days and then disappears, likely dying in a
concentration camp. Years later, Misha and Nicky are fighting in World War II and encounter a
laundry-girl, Tanya, who tells them her life story. They determine that she is the daughter of Lara
and Yury.

4. MY OPINION
"Doctor Zhivago," is an example of a superb old-style craftsmanship at the service of a soppy
romantic vision, and although its offers historical drama, it all evaporates once you returns to the
fresh chemistry between the central characters. Watching this movie left me with delightful
feeling of love. An example of this is scene when the snow crystals dissolve into flowers and a
flower dissolves into Lara's face so effortlessly and yet with such beauty and grace.
Watching the film, I found it hard to believe that all the characters portrayed could be so
understand. Later, when Komarovsky offers Lara an opportunity to save the life of herself and
her child, I thought she should have taken it but again the movie left me by surprise. And the
final pathetic scene, with Zhivago staggering after the woman on the Moscow streets, is so
unforgivable and indefensible. So, its soppy and manipulative and mushy. But that train looks
real enough to ride. Thumbs up for Dr. Zhivago! WHAT A MOVIE!