ThankU Vincent. I'm old, 70, have watched this many times, you brought me back to the tragic beauty. Stunning cast! U R right to highlight Klaus Kinski, haunting! I'm envious, how do we live heroically today
hi carlo, as to living heroically today...i think we are heroes first of all for living this long😅, for valuing art, culture and kindness and never taking beauty for granted. actually i'd say we are all heroes for coming to earth in the first place but i guess i just have a philosophical kinda mind.
I was 4 years of age when this movie came out. But I remember my Mom loved it, my Dad not so much. Mom is 90 now and I got here a copy of it for Christmas. It made her smile. The truth is I dont remember it that well and I want to see it again. Its been too long. But it always struck me about the harsh conditions of Russias past. Thanks for this review. Very enlightening.
My Mother, born in Budapest, Hungary 1927, told me that the book this movie was based on, had to be snuck into Hungary, which was under Communism when the film was released in 1965. If you were caught with the book, you would be imprisoned. The movie was not allowed to be shown in Hungary for many decades. Our family home in the country (which had 2 ft. thick walls and can be found on Napolean's war maps) was taken away and 7 families were put in it. We were left with the 10 ft x 7 ft chicken shack, where my grandparents put our antique Hungarian hand carved and hand painted furniture. Their apartment home in Budapest was divided into 4 homes, and we were left with a portion where the kitchen was so small, that two people could not pass by each other in it. I was born in America but lived with my grandparents in this home in Budapest in 1974-1975. I clearly remember Communism, the soldiers with rifles and bayonets, the red star on buildings, the hushed tones my relatives spoke in when certain topics were discussed. This movie was a painful favorite of my family. It was a tragic but true depiction of the communist regime and how it oppressed the masses, of all classes.
Great review. I have watched it dozens of times, the cinematography is gorgeous. I believe the author of the book spent time in Siberia. Lara being Mother Russia makes total sense that even tho he dies at the end, Mother Russia goes on. Thank you.
I too saw this as a child, I. The theatre several times actually. On tv in 76. None of my friends saw it. Not a perfect film but a standout. Okay, a perfect film.
Very insightful and accurate description of the real meaning behind the movie Dr. Zhivago. Thank you for your interpretation and wisdom in teaching our youth the truth about the evils of Communism and the beauty of Russia and the Russian people. Thank you very much.
This is a novel I definitely plan to read again. I read it very young, after I had seen the film, and expected a romantic plot, but instead got disappointed. Now older and more interested in history and social background, I intend to give it a second try and compare it to the film.
Thank you. I saw the movie only once when it was released and bought the sound track album at the time. Fast forward, for some reason, I've been drawn to check out the sound track and glimpse a few of the scenes in videos in these last few days. In this, I discovered how much I didn't understand back in the day, it was just a good movie and high art at the time. I now understand it was much more as you've brought to light. Perhaps the significance of what Russia has become involved in of late and how some of our politicians are actually praising it's current leader - this appalls me. It's like they've learned nothing of the atrocities committed under Stalin and how it cost so much in materials and energy to balance the dreadful warring forces that we lived under during the cold war. Thanks again.
Gr8 review. Selfishness is a part of human nature.. it could not be eliminated through ideology or state control, and the failure to address them contributed to the collapse.
Lovely video, haven't watched the film for more than 50 years (but will, definitely, again). Just noticed a mistake in the station signpost, though (at 09:14) - it reads Yuriaitn, should be Yuriatin. They should have had a couple of (emigre) Russians doing the scenery!
I too remember the movie from long ago . And today I can`t help but think of modern day Russia . I see the connections , the contrasts and the contradictions . Even though it was a movie and today is not . But is it much different ? People still give up their sons lives in trade for who has power .
As a love story too, it was also about politics & Communism - & I hope to God that people can see that!!! Why do you think it was banned by the Russian government!!!
Fantastic review...the symbolism behind the characters never occurred to me & I'm fairly smart 😅 I've seen this movie more times than any movie, first viewing 1965 on a movie screen with an intermission. EPIC
The Russian General is Zhivago's half-brother Evgraf, who does a lot for Zhivago throughout the movie and the book, and wants to help Zhivago's daughter as he helped Zhivago.
Great story, great movie. Yes, all the characters represent factions of the Russian struggle and the efforts of Soviet dominance. The Rod Steiger character represents the the corrupt and powerful forces in society. The book was banned.
60TH Anniversary coming up next year, and most likely there’ll be a big demand for a theatrical re-release, especially since it should include the lesser known small town on-screen walk-ins of rural communities, including that of Flemingsburg, Kentucky. Ofcourse, it would probably depend on how soon the theatre in that town is restored for showing movies again.
Very interesting! I alway figured that Yuri and Lara having a daughter together was Pasternak’s way of saying that she represented the new generation of Russians and a hope for Russia moving forward. I never thought about the fact of Lara never aging, but it makes sense now that she represented Mother Russia 🇷🇺
Have you ever read the book? The final scene featuring Zhivago that you refer to in the film does not appear in the book. I'd recommend reading some proper analysis by Russian academics
How much is Strelnikov a depiction of Nestor Mahkno, Trotsky, and or what others? I am with you about this movie. My Great Grandfather was a Czarist spy who was betrayed to the Red Guards. They blocked the rail line as depicted in the film... Only he (David Klausen) jumped from the train eluded capture, walked to Mongolia and escape. He returned home, gathered his family and took them to America. In this way my Grandmother survived while the village she was born in was massacred at the end of WWI... the work of Mahkno's machine guns and Lenin's edict to gather food for the cities.
Reading “Russia” (1917 - 1922) by Anthony Beevor about the Revolution followed by the Civil War. Horrible time followed by more horrible times. Fear Communism. Stop Communism.
hi vincent, i've been reading a novel by ariel lawhon entitled 'i was anastasia'. well written and thought provoking, it has made me quite curious about tsarist russia and common life before the revolution. i deeply appreciate your comments and insights about dr. zhivago. perhaps because my biological heritage is approx 50% russian and not having given much thought to my ancestry til now, i feel a bit haunted by what my ancestral line had experienced. i sure wish i knew more about how my grandparents actually made it to these shores (family legend has it that my paternal grandfather somehow deserted the russian army). looking at the world from the wise old age of 80 i cannot help but worry about the possibility that this 'promised land of freedom' in america could be heading in a similar direction of misguided leadership and a pot constantly stirred by divisiveness. i am more of a human than a partisan and can see the bigger picture of where blind ignorance and hatred can lead. in any case thanks once more for your heartfelt and interesting take on this classic story and film. best wishes and as a lover of film, i will be happy to check out more of your 'picks'.
1.58 Russia has come full circle. In the meantime those political ideologies have been exported to western society, which is now at the tipping point. Time for a big screen re-run of Dr Zhivago original movie.
6:20 The soldiers you say are retreating are actually heading to the front and encounter Russian soldiers who were fleeing the front. Maybe there was an ideological component to what happened, but I don't think that was the point the movie was making. I am also picking up an ideological bias on the part of the presenter, The Communist Soviet Union ultimately greatly improved the lives of the Russian people and dragged from a medieval society into a modern one. We may not like the authoritarian nature of it, but before condemning the methods of the Soviet Union, maybe we should more closely examine the methods used now and in the past of the United States.
@@vgovger4373 To say that the Soviet Union was pointless, or did not materially improve the lives of the Russian people is a display of ideology-driven ignorance.
Completely WRONG interpretation!! Two lovers swept up by revolution is EXACTLY what this movie is about. You know nothing about the reasons for the Russian revolution.
Very interesting! I alway figured that Yuri and Lara having a daughter together was Pasternak’s way of saying that she represented the new generation of Russians and a hope for Russia moving forward. I never thought about the fact of Lara never aging, but it makes sense now that she represented Mother Russia 🇷🇺
@ I don’t think the makeup department was to blame. There was a reason why they didn’t want her to age. She represented the spirit of the Russian people.
ThankU Vincent. I'm old, 70, have watched this many times, you brought me back to the tragic beauty. Stunning cast! U R right to highlight Klaus Kinski, haunting! I'm envious, how do we live heroically today
from where i'm sittin' you still a kid...LOL...stay healthy!
@berdalee8468 Aww! I'm 71 now🤣ahem. Healthy enough, I suppose. Main problem is radiculopathy (nerve damage) from osteoarthritis
Cheers!
hi carlo, as to living heroically today...i think we are heroes first of all for living this long😅, for valuing art, culture and kindness and never taking beauty for granted. actually i'd say we are all heroes for coming to earth in the first place but i guess i just have a philosophical kinda mind.
Excellent review: you really nailed it. I wish more people could understand the movie for what it really is. A favorite of mine too.
I was 4 years of age when this movie came out. But I remember my Mom loved it, my Dad not so much. Mom is 90 now and I got here a copy of it for Christmas. It made her smile. The truth is I dont remember it that well and I want to see it again. Its been too long. But it always struck me about the harsh conditions of Russias past.
Thanks for this review. Very enlightening.
My Mother, born in Budapest, Hungary 1927, told me that the book this movie was based on, had to be snuck into Hungary, which was under Communism when the film was released in 1965. If you were caught with the book, you would be imprisoned. The movie was not allowed to be shown in Hungary for many decades. Our family home in the country (which had 2 ft. thick walls and can be found on Napolean's war maps) was taken away and 7 families were put in it. We were left with the 10 ft x 7 ft chicken shack, where my grandparents put our antique Hungarian hand carved and hand painted furniture.
Their apartment home in Budapest was divided into 4 homes, and we were left with a portion where the kitchen was so small, that two people could not pass by each other in it. I was born in America but lived with my grandparents in this home in Budapest in 1974-1975. I clearly remember Communism, the soldiers with rifles and bayonets, the red star on buildings, the hushed tones my relatives spoke in when certain topics were discussed. This movie was a painful favorite of my family. It was a tragic but true depiction of the communist regime and how it oppressed the masses, of all classes.
SAW THIS MOVIE IN 1967.GREAT, I DID NOT FOLLOW ALL AT THAT TIME.
Great review. I have watched it dozens of times, the cinematography is gorgeous. I believe the author of the book spent time in Siberia. Lara being Mother Russia makes total sense that even tho he dies at the end, Mother Russia goes on. Thank you.
Excellent review especially the hidden meaning of the movie. If I remember correctly, parts of the movie were filmed in Canada.
Wonderful review and insight. Thank you for posting.
Lost count how many times I've watched this beautiful movie.18 when i first saw it 75 now!!!❤
Good to see that people appreciate this film. When it first appeared, the critics were not very kind. Glad that's changed.
The human spirit, expressed through art and music, cannot be extinguished.
Earth without art is just Eh.
I too saw this as a child, I. The theatre several times actually. On tv in 76. None of my friends saw it.
Not a perfect film but a standout. Okay, a perfect film.
Very insightful and accurate description of the real meaning behind the movie Dr. Zhivago. Thank you for your interpretation and wisdom in teaching our youth the truth about the evils of Communism and the beauty of Russia and the Russian people. Thank you very much.
Yes Sir thank you.
It also depicted the inhumane evils of czarist capitaliism.
I have seen this movie at least 20 times starting in1965 till just a few days ago and still love it so much
Its become cooler for me NOW than when I saw it as a boy.
I have projected it in 35 mm and 2k digital and have seen it blown up to 70 mm. Last week I saw it in 4 k DCP at the Bradford Widescreen Festival.
I enjoyed your analysis very much. Thank you
This was beautiful. I hope you get more credit for your work.
Probably not.
Thank you for this....Dave in lreland
This is a novel I definitely plan to read again. I read it very young, after I had seen the film, and expected a romantic plot, but instead got disappointed. Now older and more interested in history and social background, I intend to give it a second try and compare it to the film.
❤Wow! i am enlightened. Such an intellegent observation. Thabk you sir
Thank you! I thought I understood this movie, but it never occurred to me that Lara symbolized mother Russia ✌✌
@@SweetUniverse yes sir.
Vincent, don't ever stop making picks. Otherwise, how am I gonna know what movies to see? - Elaine
Interesting points. Thanks.
Okay, cool...lol
nice brings back strong memories and emotions.
Thank you. I saw the movie only once when it was released and bought the sound track album at the time. Fast forward, for some reason, I've been drawn to check out the sound track and glimpse a few of the scenes in videos in these last few days. In this, I discovered how much I didn't understand back in the day, it was just a good movie and high art at the time. I now understand it was much more as you've brought to light. Perhaps the significance of what Russia has become involved in of late and how some of our politicians are actually praising it's current leader - this appalls me. It's like they've learned nothing of the atrocities committed under Stalin and how it cost so much in materials and energy to balance the dreadful warring forces that we lived under during the cold war. Thanks again.
Interesting.
Gr8 review. Selfishness is a part of human nature.. it could not be eliminated through ideology or state control, and the failure to address them contributed to the collapse.
Lovely video, haven't watched the film for more than 50 years (but will, definitely, again). Just noticed a mistake in the station signpost, though (at 09:14) - it reads Yuriaitn, should be Yuriatin. They should have had a couple of (emigre) Russians doing the scenery!
Very astute analysis
Dr Zhivago, a David Lean masterpiece.
I too remember the movie from long ago . And today I can`t help but think of modern day Russia . I see the connections , the contrasts and the contradictions . Even though it was a movie and today is not . But is it much different ? People still give up their sons lives in trade for who has power .
As a love story too, it was also about politics & Communism - & I hope to God that people can see that!!! Why do you think it was banned by the Russian government!!!
Love the movie seen it many times
wonderful analysis.
@@dagon99 ty
Fantastic review...the symbolism behind the characters never occurred to me & I'm fairly smart 😅 I've seen this movie more times than any movie, first viewing 1965 on a movie screen with an intermission. EPIC
I just seen the fathom event "Gone with the wind" movie a few months ago, and that had its original intermission in it, the theater was packed to.
The Russian General is Zhivago's half-brother Evgraf, who does a lot for Zhivago throughout the movie and the book, and wants to help Zhivago's daughter as he helped Zhivago.
@@centralillinoisrailpix453 yes but these are not really people they are states of being , passion, pursuit, regret, manipulation.
@@vgovger4373 That, in a sentence, is a far better analysis.
Great story, great movie. Yes, all the characters represent factions of the Russian struggle and the efforts of Soviet dominance. The Rod Steiger character represents the the corrupt and powerful forces in society. The book was banned.
Dr. Zhivago was film in Spain, Canada and Finland, not in Russia.
it also was not filmed back in 1917
@vgovger4373 how it was filmed in 1917, when it was written in 1957?
@vgovger4373 1917s made only silent movies because sound tech came a decade later. The movie made mid 60s
And with good reason.
That’s true!
60TH Anniversary coming up next year, and most likely there’ll be a big demand for a theatrical re-release, especially since it should include the lesser known small town on-screen walk-ins of rural communities, including that of Flemingsburg, Kentucky.
Ofcourse, it would probably depend on how soon the theatre in that town is restored for showing movies again.
Very interesting! I alway figured that Yuri and Lara having a daughter together was Pasternak’s way of saying that she represented the new generation of Russians and a hope for Russia moving forward. I never thought about the fact of Lara never aging, but it makes sense now that she represented Mother Russia 🇷🇺
I had no idea!
Have you ever read the book? The final scene featuring Zhivago that you refer to in the film does not appear in the book. I'd recommend reading some proper analysis by Russian academics
I do MOVIE reviews, not book reviews.
I reviewed a movie and its content that was presented to me.
have you ever read, "Jaws", because that really different from the book?
@vgovger4373 Yes, I have. I taught it in school and showed the students the film as part of the Media element of the English course
@@ChrisPulling Okay so if I do a JAWS review then should I discuss the mobster plot and Mrs Brodie's affair?
@vgovger4373 I think it would be great to draw a comparison between the book and film, and therefore add to the overall 'experience' of the user
How much is Strelnikov a depiction of Nestor Mahkno, Trotsky, and or what others? I am with you about this movie. My Great Grandfather was a Czarist spy who was betrayed to the Red Guards. They blocked the rail line as depicted in the film... Only he (David Klausen) jumped from the train eluded capture, walked to Mongolia and escape. He returned home, gathered his family and took them to America. In this way my Grandmother survived while the village she was born in was massacred at the end of WWI... the work of Mahkno's machine guns and Lenin's edict to gather food for the cities.
I thought of Trotsky as well.
Reading “Russia” (1917 - 1922) by Anthony Beevor about the Revolution followed by the Civil War. Horrible time followed by more horrible times. Fear Communism. Stop Communism.
Great analysis I didn't think about Lora representing mother Russia makes sense
It is no doubt a fascinating and impactful movie, hard to forget,
hi vincent, i've been reading a novel by ariel lawhon entitled 'i was anastasia'. well written and thought provoking, it has made me quite curious about tsarist russia and common life before the revolution. i deeply appreciate your comments and insights about dr. zhivago. perhaps because my biological heritage is approx 50% russian and not having given much thought to my ancestry til now, i feel a bit haunted by what my ancestral line had experienced. i sure wish i knew more about how my grandparents actually made it to these shores (family legend has it that my paternal grandfather somehow deserted the russian army). looking at the world from the wise old age of 80 i cannot help but worry about the possibility that this 'promised land of freedom' in america could be heading in a similar direction of misguided leadership and a pot constantly stirred by divisiveness. i am more of a human than a partisan and can see the bigger picture of where blind ignorance and hatred can lead. in any case thanks once more for your heartfelt and interesting take on this classic story and film. best wishes and as a lover of film, i will be happy to check out more of your 'picks'.
There's meaning??
Pretty sure the soldiers weren’t retreating. They were heading to the front and it was the mob that was retreating. 6:25
@@rlgmedia5364 the soldiers said the German were up the road and they pointed to where they came from.
No to Naziukropnato...🇷🇺♥️👍
Are hidden meanings as much fun as Easter Eggs in movies?
1.58 Russia has come full circle. In the meantime those political ideologies have been exported to western society, which is now at the tipping point.
Time for a big screen re-run of Dr Zhivago original movie.
😊😢
Hey Vincent, Lara doesn't survive, Stalin "disappears" her at the end, per Yegevny, Zhivago's half-brother.
6:20 The soldiers you say are retreating are actually heading to the front and encounter Russian soldiers who were fleeing the front. Maybe there was an ideological component to what happened, but I don't think that was the point the movie was making.
I am also picking up an ideological bias on the part of the presenter,
The Communist Soviet Union ultimately greatly improved the lives of the Russian people and dragged from a medieval society into a modern one.
We may not like the authoritarian nature of it, but before condemning the methods of the Soviet Union, maybe we should more closely examine the methods used now and in the past of the United States.
I to am picking up a bias....the russians were retreating as a fact of history, lennons plan was to trade land for time.
@@vgovger4373 To say that the Soviet Union was pointless, or did not materially improve the lives of the Russian people is a display of ideology-driven ignorance.
Man in the iron mask do next
@@peteruhlig9004 Which version?
Zhivago is Djivago, not shivago.
you get the ticky tacky award for excellence
Heavens to hemlock.
Big deal.
Some dubious reasoning about Lara and her perpetual youthful appearance.
@@martykrusniak4355 No, not really.
Yeah, that is a "bit" far fetched.
We’re any of the main characters played by actual Russian actors.
I dont know, why?
@ did you ever notice how infrequently Hollywood has Russian actors play Russian parts?
BowlshowVick
Good grief.
She looked aged to me.
With the exception of Lara's beautiful blue eyes, I think she looks like Melania Trump.
Gross
Actually, she looks like the 1960s answer to Anna Kournikova.
Maybe you possibly have Lara confused with Mary Bailey from 1946’s “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!”.
Lousy review
@wnggtg,
“Well, now I wouldn’t say that.”
The little man from the draftboard in the animated 1945 classic short subject picture of “DRAFTEE DAFFY”.
Completely WRONG interpretation!! Two lovers swept up by revolution is EXACTLY what this movie is about. You know nothing about the reasons for the Russian revolution.
And the heinous oppression of people by both tsar and aristocrats and the corruppt Communist regime that replaced them.
Very interesting! I alway figured that Yuri and Lara having a daughter together was Pasternak’s way of saying that she represented the new generation of Russians and a hope for Russia moving forward. I never thought about the fact of Lara never aging, but it makes sense now that she represented Mother Russia 🇷🇺
Blame it on the makeup department.
@ I don’t think the makeup department was to blame. There was a reason why they didn’t want her to age. She represented the spirit of the Russian people.