An Intensely Romantic Experience

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2006)

One of the most romantic films ever made, set in a time and place that prefigures much of our contemporary certitude which now too often substitutes for rational and emotionally honest discourse. Yuri Zhivago struggles with grand purpose to find his way through the noise and stupid violence while retaining an unswerving allegiance to beauty and art. My pastor in the sixties said it was a subversive film and condemned it, forbidding us to see it. Of course, I saw it and never looked back. The visual imagery in the winterized summer home is for me a memory that continues to evoke an intensely ironic sensation of those moments when lovers seem to only exist for each other yet remain tethered to the reality that gave birth to their passion. Has ever a film produced music that so precisely mirrors the drama? Its flaws and the many dated aspects are minor and ultimately contribute to this films power - at least for me.