Review of Doctor Zhivago (1965) by Marisa T — 02 Feb 2011

With all the snow flurries falling at home and.

The fire bombs falling in Egypt,.

I couldn't help thinking about this film.

So many parallels;.

A story of Russia's citizen revolt and changes of WWI.

With a snowscape both ravishing and ravaging.

It is the caviar of any film-fare menu!

To this day, it stands as an example of cinematic excellence in the visual and emotional dimensions of movie making.

Beyond the grandeur of a spectacular geography, Lean makes an emotional contrast with attention to the details of the human experience;.

-a candle seen from the street through a frosted window.

-petals falling off a bouguet of sunflowers in a vase.

-a gust of wind bending a candle-flame as a door opens.

It works to keep us engaged for approx 4 hours because it presents a very personal aspect of an otherwise political story.

The charactors are perfectly cast. Just their presence sometimes speaks volumes even without dialogue.

The brutal revolutionary conflict imposing devastating hardships resonates through the whole viewing and creates an epic of quiet heros and survival.