Doctor Zhivago

Based on Boris Pasternak’s novel, Doctor Zhivago is the story of a doctor/poet during the Russian Revolution.  In the present, we have Zhivago’s half brother, General Yefgraf (Alec Guinness), questioning a young girl, whom he thinks is Zhivago’s child.  With a collection of Zhivago’s poems in hand, he proceeds to tell her about Yuri’s life, beginning from his childhood when his mother died, through his efforts as a doctor in the war and his hardships in the revolution.

The film quickly becomes a love story set on top of the revolution.  While Yuri (Omar Sharif) is an idealistic student of medicine, he meets Lara (Julie Christie), a poor girl naively caught up with Victor Komarovsky (Rod Steiger).  Later, Lara is not so helpless, breaks into a party and shoots Victor in front of Yuri.  Later, in the war, Yuri and Lara find themselves working together in a makeshift hospital.  These are just unfortunate meetings of chance, but can mean so much to a poet.  But Lara is married to a revolutionary, Pasha (Tom Courtenay) and Yuri starts his own family.  As the revolution intensifies and his poems gain him an unwanted reputation, he and his family travel out to the country to live peacefully.  In the nearby town, there is Lara again and soon she and Yuri start a passionate affair that does not stand a chance against the revolution closing in around them.

David Lean is one of the film masters who makes all his movies look amazing.  Doctor Zhivago is full of beautiful shots using the Russian scenery and brutal snow to his advantage.  The costumes, sets and little details go a long way here.  There’s something poetic about shots of ice crystals on windows that melt away to usher in the daffodils of sprint.  The one image that completely floored me was the snowy palace in the middle of winter.  Between the beautiful Russian architecture and the amount of snow drifting all over the building, it’s an unforgettable image.  The things Lean can do with snow or sand just overwhelm me.

While the film passes for a good epic, I feel that it lacks heart or personality.  For example, in Lean’s masterpiece, Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence is an amazing character.  He’s often strange but fantastic and the audience genuinely likes him.  We could gush on describing him for hours.  But here, Yuri Zhivago has a basic lack of characteristics.  I thought for a moment how I could describe him, my list read as 1. Poet and 2. Mustache.  He is such a passive protagonist, events happen around him, things happen to him.  His poetic personality is hard for viewers to identify with and connect to.  I acknowledge that he is a person that helps shape these events, but I don’t see those events shaping him.  In real life, it is not a bad thing to just go with the flow, but in a three hour film we need more from a protagonist.

One thing that really bugged me was the fact that Yuri was an influential poet, good enough for his work to be banned, yet we never hear a word of his work.  I realize that his poetry should not be at the center of the story, but it needs to be in there somewhere, perhaps it could shed some personality on Yuri.  At least we see him writing a couple times.

In the end, Doctor Zhivago is a good looking epic that becomes a so-so love story.  With Lean’s wonderful reputation, it’s best not to get too excited when you pick up Doctor Zhivago.  I had high hopes that just became disappointments.  Those snow scenes are beautiful, but can only heal so much.

“The personal life is dead in Russia.  History has killed it.”

Reds

John “Jack” Reed was an American journalist, and communist activist who wrote Ten Days that Shook the World, a first hand account of a crucial point in the Russian Revolution.  His wife, Louise Bryant was a feminist writer, and journalist beside him.  Reds is a three hour epic telling the true story of Jack, Louise and their part alongside the Russian Revolution.

The story begins when Jack (Warren Beatty) and Louise (Diane Keaton) first meet.  She’s an artist trying to be a serious writer and married to another man.  Louise leaves her husband to be with Jack, but he often leaves her alone to travel and cover political stories.  While Jack is away, she has an affair with Eugene O’Neill (Jack Nicholson) a poet and playwright that would later win the Pulitzer Prize.  Louise and Jack marry without ever mentioning the infidelity, but when it comes out later,he admits to his affairs as well.  This causes Louise to leave.  They don’t see each other again until Jack asks Louise to go to Russia with him to write about the revolution.  He’s always supportive of her work, but is afraid that no one will take her seriously if she doesn’t go to and write about the most important thing happening at the moment.  Their work within the revolution rekindles their relationship and inspires Jack to bring the ideals sweeping Russia back to the United States.

Edited in throughout the film are clips of interviews of those who remember the time period.  Some are firsthand witnesses to the Russian Revolution, others knew, met or caught glimpses of Jack and Louise in real life.  The very first moments of the film are the “witnesses” telling us a few things about Jack and Louise in their own words: Jack was a playboy.  Louise was an exhibitionist.  Their opinions and statements are often contradictory of each other.  One says about the outbreak of WWI, “There was a lot of anti war rallying.”  And the next person says, “There wasn’t anyone against the war.”  These interviews bring a personal feel to the story and remind us that this piece of history wasn’t too long ago.

Unless you are really into political journalism, the Russian Revolution or a semi-biopic about the relationship between Jack Reed and Louise Bryant, this is probably not your film of choice.  Three ours of those three topics, even with a little Jack Nicholson charm sprinkled in, is a very long film to get through.  No doubt, it is a beautiful, thoughtful film with an engaging story mixed with history and love.  But sadly, I was starting to get bored when the political talk began to take the main stage and by time it was time for some train exploding climatic action, I was just thinking about investing in a nice ushanka.

“You dream that if you discuss the revolution with a man before you go to bed with him, it’ll be missionary work rather than sex.”

Nicholas and Alexandra

We have always had a certain fascination with royalty.  Little girls dream of being princesses, men want to be king of their castle.  Right now the whole world is buzzing about a new royal wedding in the works.  But what about Russian royalty?  Ah, that’ll put a damper on your game of Pretty Pretty Princess.  Let’s just substitute that dainty tiara for a warm ushanka to wear on your Siberian holiday.  The fact is, most Americans can’t tell you three facts about Russia.  So watching Nicholas and Alexandra would be a much needed history lesson.

The story is of the rein of Czar Nicholas II (Michael Jayston) and his wife Alexandra (Janet Suzman).  They have finally produced a son and heir to the throne, Alexis (Roderic Noble), but he has hemophilia, a condition where the blood does not clot correctly.  Consequently, the child is sick often and every little cut could be life threatening.  All the attention spent on little Alexis seems to distract Nick and Alex from their duties as monarchs.   Instead of listening to their advisers and their angry citizens, they seek the advice of Rasputin (Tom Baker), a mystic man whom Alexandra believes has abilities to heal their son.  They don’t even realize the revolution brewing until it is too late.  Nick just doesn’t seem to know what to do except mobilize his troops and cause Germany to declare war.  As WWI is raging, the government is overthrown by the Socialists and Nick has to renounce the throne.  Do most Americans even know what happened in WWI?

Alright, I’ll pause the history lecture, this is a movie.  It’s three hours long but doesn’t feel like an epic, just trying to be.  I think of Russia as a huge, expansive country and within it’s cities is beautiful architecture from all different periods in the same place.  Yet, this film keeps us contained.  All the palace scenes may have been in a lavish setting, the costumes are exquisite, but it feels like we’re cramped in a little studio.  Even when the camera takes us outdoors it feels like there’s no room to move, the fog in forest can really foreshorten everything.

Tom Baker’s Rasputin is so odd.  He’s portrayed as a drifter and an obviously a crazy man who believes himself to be a holy healer.  I got a kick about his womanizing and drinking too much vodka.  That moment when he pops out of the hay naked and yells at a nun is priceless.  I can understand portraying a man who has become a legend in such a flamboyant way, but his sudden opium party with young men who seem to be homosexuals leading right into his death is too much.

On one level, this film seems like it could be a great portrayal of the tragic story behind Russia’s last royal family, but it loses focus trying to get us to understand all the political reasons behind it.  If it could clean up the beginning a bit more, so that we can understand the whole whirlwind of the revolution and Rasputin’s role in starting the war, the whole story would run smoother.  Until then, we all need to brush up on our Russian history.

“They’re children, and they need a Czar! They need tradition. Not this! They’re the victims of agitators. A Duma would make them bewildered and discontented. And don’t tell me about London and Berlin.”