Doctor Zhivago is the story of a love affair after the Russian Revolution, told plainly and shot beautifully. That’s it. Seriously! Beyond that, it’s rather hard to condense this 3 1/2 hour film into a proper synopsis. I tried three times! Each time, I found myself writing a massive treatise before giving up. So here’s the best spark notes of the spark notes I could muster—
The film is about Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet. The married Yuri develops feelings for his wartime nurse, Lara. After his life falls apart in post-Revolution Russia, the two begin an affair. When it is learned that their lives are at risk, Zhivago arranges for Lara’s safe passage and becomes a doctor in communist Russia. The two die without each other, their romance nearly lost to time if not for the poems Zhivago wrote about Lara and, perhaps, a daughter. (I left out a lot of shit. Like, A LOT.)
This is the third film I’ve watched from David Lean (“Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Bridge on the River Kwai”) and the third to feature stunning cinematography and a too-long runtime. But I must be starting to become accustomed to his style because I tolerated this film greatly—almost to the point of enjoying it. While the film was long and dreary in places, it is a true “every frame a painting” movie. It's brilliantly acted and really transports you to the seldom explored (by Hollywood) world of post-Revolution Russia, British accents and all. Omar Sharif and Julie Christie were fantastic and it's always a delight to watch Obi 1.0 Alec Guiness do his acting thang.
For all of the film's need of another edit, one critique I disagreed with is that the historic backdrop is purely incidental and irrelevant to the love story (like “Gone with the Wind”). On the contrary, I feel like Zhivago’s guilty love affair is mirrored in his inability to truly align with a side during the Russian Civil War. His wife and son represents Yuri’s obligations to society, sacrifice for others, and ultimate sympathy to the Bolsheviks. Lara represented Yuir’s selfish desires and true passion, explored in his connection to 'counter-revolutionary' poetry, his aristocratic life, and what was stolen from him by Communism and time. Alas, despite Communism, time is the true equalizer.