Epic film banned by the Soviet Union and Nobel Prize declined

Rating: 10/10 (18 September 2012)

"Doctor Zhivago" is an epic film of love, hope and tragedy, based on the novel by Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak. It spans nearly four decades and sweeps across a vast expanse of central Russia from Moscow to east of the Ural Mountains. It covers the end times of Czarist Russia, the rise of the Bolshevik revolution, the communist takeover and the early years of the Soviet Union. Yet, it is not a war, revolution, or military movie. It is a love story set in those times, events and places. It is a love story wound in and around those real events that Boris Pasternak lived through as a young man in Russia.
Zhivago, played by Omar Sharif, is a doctor, a poet, a gentle soul and a lover of life, people and all things created. We see his love of life in the long shots of his looking at and reflecting on fields of flowers, a snow-covered countryside, marching students and workers, or peasants standing in the icy remains of their burned down village. We see Zhivago's love for two women, played by Geraldine Chaplin and Julie Christie. We see his inner conflict over this, and how events that unfold contribute to the conflict. The story is told in flashbacks by his brother, played by Alec Guinness.
Many people have written reviews on this great movie. But I wonder how many older viewers remember the controversy surrounding the author, book and movie. Or, how many younger viewers are aware of the history of "Doctor Zhivago." How many people know that Pasternak had to reject the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958? The Soviet Union wouldn't allow the book to be published. When it was printed outside the U.S.S.R., the Soviet's banned the book throughout the realm. When the movie came out in 1965, the Soviets banned it from being shown in the U.S.S.R. It wasn't until after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the book was translated into Russian and sold in the former U.S.S.R. The first showing of the movie in Russia was in 1994.
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) was a poet and author who lived his entire life in Russia. His first poems were published in 1917, but by 1930 he was no longer able to print what he wrote. He began working secretly on "Doctor Zhivago" as a novel based on much of his own experiences. After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, he was able to finish the book. But he was told it was unfit for publication in Russia. So, he smuggled the manuscript out, and it was first published in Italian in 1957 by a publisher in Italy. It was soon printed in 30 different languages. But not Russian! The following year, the Nobel Committee picked Pasternak to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, and invited him to Stockholm, Sweden, to accept the award. But he declined the prize in worldwide publicity that proved very embarrassing to the Soviet Union.
The Soviets forbade Pasternak's reentry into Russia if he went to Stockholm to receive the prize. Pasternak had a deep love for his country and didn't want to live in exile, so he publicly refused the award. In his note to the Nobel committee, he explained that he was not critical of the committee, but that he had to decline. He wrote: "In light of the significance this award carries in the society in which I live, I must denounce the undeserved prize which was awarded to me. Please do not be offended by my voluntary refusal."
"Doctor Zhivago" won five Oscars and had five other Academy Award nominations. That was in a year that was filled with great competition from a number of superb films. It also received five Golden Globes. This is a great movie, indeed. It excels in all aspects of its production – form the screenplay and direction, to the costumes and sets, to the cinematography and scenery, to the superb musical score, to the outstanding performances by a host of actors. And, on an end note, it's also a good historical film – for the period and events it portrays in history, and for the history surrounding the author, book and movie.