Rating: 
Summary: A great masterpiece of all time !!!
Review: I have seen this movie when I was 10 years old and it captured my mind then. 20 years later, I have seen the same movie in DVD and I have no words to explain the enchantic influence it had on me. Every frame speaks to itself and connected together like a well-written piece of poem. I doubt anybody else other than David could put together a masterpiece like this. Some of the frames are so captivating it gives you a feeling that is difficult to explain. David, the great filmmaker of all times did indeed excellent even with a love story theme after his tremendous success in war movies as Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai. It is a shame to Oscars not awarding the best picture to Doctor Zhivago instead giving to Sound of Music, as it is shame to Nobel peace prize not given to Mahatma Gandhi even posthumously.
Rating:
Summary: Elegiac Motion Picture - An exemplar of unified design.
Review: Like many other reviewers writing here, this is one of my most favorite motion pictures. This motion picture was very gripping when it was released. This is for several reasons. Pasternak is a very good writer and Doctor Zhivago was one of his best works. In the context of the Cold War, his novel and the movie it spawned brought a sense of much better understanding of the Soviet Union and the Russian revolution. The actors and the acting were both top notch and the cinematography is still some of the best around. All of that said. The style of this motion picture may be unfamiliar or even unpleasant to younger audiences. The films is by modern standards very slow. It was both a slow movie and a long movie by the standards and traditions common at the time it was made. Instead of striving for break neck action and rapid cutting, this film strives for a sense of glacial inevitability. Many of these scenes are against the backdrop of the Russian Winter. This setting accentuates rather than detracts from this pervasive feeling of inevitability. Not only does the editing support this pervasive mood, but the original film score supports it as well. The film music is well written and well performed. Following release of the film, the film music was immensely popular for several years. This film also sports excellent sets and costumes which contribute to the pervasive mood of the film. The film has many appealing characters. As in classical tragedy, many of these characters are capable and even earnest people attempting to do good. Their various fates come as a result of major forces acting upon their lives. One of my favorite characters is Pasha the idealist and sometime Soviet commissar. The wealth of well developed characters in this film reflects the traditions of the Russian novel. And, the film makers give us adequate opportunity to meet them. Finally, the film and the novel behind it is a love story. But, in this case it is a sad broken love of separation. Technically, the DVD transfer is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Doctor Zhivago - Among the best ever!
Review: This wonderfully acted, beautifully photograghed masterpiece places you into the historical framework of an epic love story.
One of the top five motion pictures I have seen in my lifetime.
Simply a best of the best experience. I have enjoyed this motion picture at least annually since I first experienced it in a first run local theatre some 39 years ago.
Rating: 
Summary: Is There A "Doctor" In The House?
Review: "Doctor Zhivago" is one of David Lean's most popular films. It is a masterpice, and not only one of his best works, but, one of the greatest of all-time. But there's something about that statement that makes "Doctor Zhivago" an oddity. Ask someone if they've heard of it, and chances are they will say yes. Now ask someone if they like it, and you'll find a mixed reaction. Many people refer to this as one of David Lean's "lesser" efforts. And that's a shame. To watch it, is to watch one of the greatest epic romances ever on par with "Gone With The Wind" (which I think is the greatest). "Doctor Zhivago" tells the story of a country, Russia, in the middle of the revolution and of a famous poet\doctor Yuri Zhivago's search for the woman he loves. Yuri Zhivago played Omar Sharif is married to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) but is really in love with Lara (Julie Christie) and finds himself constantly thinking of her. The film is told in flashback fashion, and there was something about this I didn't like because it reduces Sir. Alec Guinness' part to merely that of "the storyteller". He serves no other funtion than to tell us what happen. I think Guiness was a brilliant actor. One of the best character actors we had. He here there's nothing for him. Lean had given him a great parts in previous films such as "Bridge On The River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia". There's a movie out now called "Cold Mountain" which is an attempt to bring back movies like this, but "Cold Mountain" lacks a certan heart that "Doctor Zhivago" has. Even after more than 30 years we are still pulled in by the story. That is a mark of a classic film. "Doctor Zhivago" when released was nominated for ten Oscars including "best picture" and "best director". It walked away with five "best cinematography", "best screenplay" and "best score" to name a few. Also of note, look out for German actor Klaus Kinski's brief role. Bottom-line: Not only one of David Lean's best but one of the greatest romantic epics of all-time. Great performances from Omar Sharif and Julie Christie.
Rating:
Summary: Post-revolutionary Russian soap opera, but oh boy
Review: Yeah, by today's standards, David Lean's Dr. Zhivago leans too close to schmaltz. But oh boy, when it came out a bazillion years ago, with marvelous shots of its two photogenic stars, Julie Christie and Lara and Omar Sharif as the doctor, it was full-blown mania. Gorgeous scenery both rural and urban lend to the epic grandness of this effort of a forbidden love affair in the midst of horror, famine, COLD weather, and a nation suffering. It won 5 Oscars, which gives an idea how popular the film was. It's still a good one, and the theme song, Lara's Theme, will forever bring the movie to mind.
It's just a bit dated these days. If I were rating this 15 yrs ago, I'd have given it 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Drama
Review: Director David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago", released in 1965, was a remarkable drama which should have won an Oscar for Best Picture. It's certainly worthy of the Oscar title. The film stars Omar Shariff in the eponymous role of Doctor Yuri Andreyvitch Zhivago, Geraldine Chaplin as his wife Tonya, Julie Christie as his mistress and true love Lara, Rod Steiger as the villainous Victor Komarovsky and Alec Guiness as an officer. Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak - the novel, by the way, was banned in Communist Russia- it's true to the novel and is visually beautiful and tragic to behold. It is a film that honors love even in the dark times of the Communist take-over in 1918 Russia. The film was shot in some locations in Spain and Europe. The music is by Maurice Jarre, a French composer of remarkable talent. His "Lara's Theme", the love theme of the movie, is poignant and lilting. The use of the Russian instrument, balalaika and other instrumental music is very dramatic as well as moving. On DVD, this film is truly a treat. Commentary, behind the scenes and subtitles are the bonus features. The film opens shortly before the Revolution in which we meet Zhivago, an orphaned doctor who writes romantic poetry. Zhivago's relationship with his wife Tonya is not passionate. He was married out of the conventional orthodox Russian tradition and they are more like brother and sister than husband and wife. Komarovsky, a decadent and corrupt aristocrat, becomes possessive and controlling of Lara, whose socially ambitious mother pushes her into this sordid relationship. Lara's spirit is crushed when Komoravosky rapes her and attempts to shoot him during a party (this is the first time Zhivago sees Lara). Eventually, the war comes along and Zhivago is sent to support the army as a surgeon. Here he meets up with Lara again as she is serving as a nurse. Lara and Zhivago become lovers after the war, coincidentally when Zhivago's wife Tonya is pregnant with her second child. When the truth of the affair is discovered, Tonya abandons Zhivago, heartbroken. Zhivago and Lara have a daughter, Tonya (in honor of Zhivago's wife, for it seems that Zhivago loved both Tonya and Lara, even if he burned hotter for Lara). Zhivago's daughter Tonya learns of her parents through conversation with Alec Guiness' character who has found the poems written by Zhivago to Lara. A film of polar opposite visuals - the daffodils and wintry castle look innocent and Impressionist-style is a direct contrast to the ugly darkness of the inhumanity of war, in this case the Bolshevik regime. This film is a must have for fans of great drama. Look also for the remake from the BBC and available on DVD now. A film released in 2003 and shown on PBS KCET starring Hans Matheson as Zhivago, Keira Knightley as Lara and Sam Neill plays a truly wicked Komoravsky.
Rating:
Summary: A Timeless Classic
Review: "Doctor Zhivago" with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie is almost forty years old, yet it seems as fresh today as it did in 1965. Boris Pasternak's book was epic in scope and I think director David Lean made the best choice when he decided to film the movie version as an epic rather than as an intimate love story between Yuri and Lara. This is the story of a doomed, but beautiful, love and Lean captures its essence so well. Omar Sharif was perfectly cast as Yuri Zhivago although, at times, I wish the scriptwriters would have made him a bit more of the poet than physician. Julie Christie was also the perfect Lara. She was more beautiful in this film than in any other and it's easy to see why Zhivago, Kamarovsky and Antipov were all in love with her, each in his own way and why Tonya admired her, even after realizing her own adored husband loved Lara. I loved Rod Steiger's portrayal of Kamarovksy. I know people who preferred the miniseries version because Kamarovsky was more "human" and "softer" but I don't think Kamarovsky was "soft." At least not on the exterior. He loved Lara, to be sure, but he didn't care what happened to Yuri Zhivago. Personally, I didn't care for Geraldine Chaplin as Tonya, but that's a quibble with me where this film is concerned. She played her part well and was quite believable. The cinematography in this film is perhaps the most beautiful ever filmed. The springtime fields of daffodils nodding in the breeze, the majesty of the Urals, the forest where Yuri meets Strelnikov, the snow-covered, ice-laden "summerhouse" where Yuri and Lara spend some of their happiest (and unhappiest) times are simply unforgettable in their beauty and their grandeur. The script was perfect, the timing was perfect and the score was the perfect accompaniment. "Doctor Zhivago" is a movie I watch regularly and I always will. The emotions it depicts are timeless, the doomed love between Yuri and Lara is perfectly captured by Sharif and Christie. It is truly one of the most beautiful stories ever filmed.
Rating:
Summary: Medicine for the Soul
Review: Following on the heels of Lawrence of Arabia and released during a time when critical establishment, enamoured of new cinema developing in Europe and Japan, found it fashionable to sneer at Hollywood superproductions, Dr. Zhivago won moviegoers' hearts but was denounced by critics(and after Ryan's Daughter, Lean was defacto in exile from the movie community).
In a way, Dr. Zhivago's gargantuanism dwarfs its precious themes. It's poetry presented as wall poster. This is all the more unfortunate when the movie is about reconnecting with one's private life in a world whose blueprint comprises ruthless ideology, bland communality, superstate pretensions. What does it mean to be a lover, a daughter, an artist in a world that demands that all men(and women)be just one thing--a prole? The tension at the heart of Dr. Zhivago is the same as in Siberiade, a Mosfilm epic about what remains of the individual and community against the battering effects of the tidal wave of history. Siberiade has an earthy vitality that the far too glossy Zhivago lacks.
Anyway, though Lean worked on a huge scale, perhaps favoring craftmanship over real artistic depth, the result isn't impersonal. The movie's beautiful and glorious, with many unforgettable lyrical passages. And, Sharif, though limited as an actor, has moist romantic eyes expressing the poetry of love, loneliness, hope, human decency.
Interesting that like Zhivago's poetry, Lean's status in the film community has survived, even risen, while so many of the ideological debates about aesthetics of the 60s seem so quaint now.
Dr. Zhivago also has excellent performances by most of its actors, especially by Rod Steiger and Alec Guiness.
Rating:
Summary: Be Sure to See The New Version(2003)of Dr.Schivago.
Review: To Fans of Russian Literature/Film or TeleFilm, I must say that the New Version that was made
this year(in 2003) of Dr.Schivago is really more
beautiful than the Original Version. The Re-Make
has the Charismatic Hans Matheson who hails from
the United Kingdom, and the Beautiful Keira Knightley.
The New Version of this Russian Story was on Exxon
Mobiles MasterPiece Theatre, ask Amazon.Com for copies
to be sold here. The story is beautiful indeed, to bad
that love in the end does not prevail. This might sound
as usual mushy, but Love is powerful....Dr.SchiVago(2003)
re-make is worth it, and better in my opinion than the original
from the 20th Century. Thank you for reading.
Rating: 
Summary: From Russia without any love
Review: I spent a few hours yesterday to watch the movie and I am so much disappointed with the results that want to share my feeling. The first impression from the movie was that the movie was a "fake". Just a total fake from my point of view. I am Russian and from the very beginning of the movie I felt like something wrong is going on. It is not my country, not my people, not the nature I get used to. The people behavior is strange; the icy house looks awkward, healthy faces at war time look ridiculous. I understand that many years ago it was not possible for the film makers to travel to Russia, but if they wanted to make a movie connected with Russia somehow they could read more than one book on that at least. Another surprise was music. People in love - "balalaika" music, people in trouble - "balalaika" as well. Movie makers could do better, we here in Russia use wooden spoons sometime to play especially happy songs....
I am very surprised to read another people reviews who were so much impressed with the movie. Why was that? What so great about that? What is so special about the weak, useless looser who couldn't manage anything in his life and kept making problems for people around him. I could not believe that such a person would be of any interest to Pasternak. And definitely he is not Pasternak's Zhivago! PS At least I have not seen people dancing with bears on Moscow streets. It would make the movie a usual western rubbish about Russia, which we all have seen so many times.
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