A great film

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2010)

Doctor Zhivago (1965) is one of the four best David Lean films along with A Passage to India (1984), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
Doctor Zhivago is a film that is hard to fault. The novel upon which it's based provides ample source material. The challenge to film it was to decide what to leave in and what to take out. Although the film is long it is necessary and in fact could have been twice as long. The film can be somewhat hard to follow because of the necessary omissions and condensations for the screenplay to be effective.
The acting is first rate from everyone and the principle actors are all heavyweights, with Omar Sharif as Dr. Zhivago probably the least capable and overshadowed by the others.
Julie Christie as the beautiful and mysterious Lara, Geraldine Chaplin as the rather mousy Tonya are the only two females in the film.
Rod Steiger, prone to overacting, is quite restrained and very effective as Komarovsky.
Alec Guinness as Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago is used to frame the story and has a small role.
Tom Courtenay is excellent as Pasha, while the distinguished Ralph Richardson is terrific as Alexander.
Small roles for Rita Tushingham as The Girl and Klaus Kinski as a crazy Kostoyed, very effective.
The film is a visual and aural feast and won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Musical Score.
Director David Lean uses symbols and colors throughout the film and these are fun to examine. Trains occur repeatedly in the film, representing various ideas. Falling leaves, snow and ice, candles occur repeatedly. The color red is used everywhere: for Lara's dress, on flowers, on the Communist flag and on the train.
In my opinion, A Passage To India (1984) is Lean's best film because it is a perfect melding of story and symbolism, but Zhivago shows Lean's attention to story, history and symbolism.
Dr. Zhivago deserves to be seen on a large screen and withstands repeated viewings, as to the other three major David Lean films. Rightly so, Zhivago is on the top 100 film list.
Recommended without reservation.