In black and white,it could have been made by Eisenstein.

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2002)

This saga seems to echo much of what Sergei Eisenstein (October,Potemkin) wrote in the 40s in "Film Form"---the dialectic of opposites. We see this very much in two sequences:- 1) The attack of the dragoons-sequence of the demonstration;cutback to dragoons preparing;the progress of the marchers;closeup of the marchers' leader; dragoons advance; a whole lot of intercutting of the action of opposites. 2) The confrontation of the retreating army and its leaders might have been from the annals of "Potemkin."
There is much symbolism in this film: the nature-struck boy's engrossment by a twig on a window-pane;the wreath blown away to oblivion; the mature Zhivago's frequent contemplation of nature,under a microscope,on the way to the Urals,or the ice crystals on a glass pane. There is often the broad canvas of panorama which might be Lean's signature (Lawrence of Arabia) which is enhanced by wide screen.
Even if Zhivago came from middle Russia,the Eastern appearance of Sharif does not quite fit; Max von Sydow might have done better in this part.The character played by Steiger is well shown: a callous cynical cad who presses his assistance contemptuously on his victims; perhaps the premise of this photoplay is in his words: An idealist spreads misery in his idealism; the man of action,the man of the world accomplishes goals in people's interest and is the better of the two (words to that effect).
This film starts and ends with talk about a balalaika, and although we never see it played,the background music "Lara's theme" recurs often too frequently.Guinness in the opening scenes and later, shows an appreciable range of emotions,but what is a general doing in charge of a hydro-electric dam? I would have liked some contemporary Russian music,Tchaikowski,Glazunov or the like;we are treated only to a short piano rendering of one of Rachmaninoff's preludes. This film is enormous in scope: the alleged scenes of Russia, the Urals are fine;even in Alaska the houses do not freeze inside so much
but the license is acceptable.
This movie does well as a saga,an on-again,off-again love story about
a man whose ideals do not exclude adultery.It is Eisenstein in color and wide screen,but not up to the standard of Bondarchuk's "War and Peace",(Russian,1969)...perhaps a bit on the style of "Alexander Nevski".