11.11.03

I finished watching the Masterpiece Theatre presentation of Dr. Zhivago last night and I must say that I am utterly exhausted from the experience. I don’t think I have ever watched anything so tragic. Based on a book written by Boris Pasternak in the 1950’s, Dr. Zhivago is an epic love story that takes place during the Communist Revolution in Russia in the early 20th century. The historical backdrop of the story has compelled me to learn more of this tumultous time. Quite frankly, I’ve always been a rather weak historian, studying only what I needed to know for my degree, avoiding anything too brutal or depressing. Like his main character Yurii Zhivago, Pasternak was himself a poet and his book is apparently based partly on his own life experiences. Because he protrayed the revolution for exactly what it was, atrocities, butchering and mindless brutality, Dr. Zhivago was rejected for publication by the Soviet authorities. He countered this by agreeing to have his book published abroad and in 1958 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature only to be forced to renounce the award when the Soviet Press initiated a progaganda campaign against him.
The original and very famous Dr. Zhivago motion picture came out in 1965 starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. My mother has instructed me to watch this one for comparison which I will do as soon as someone returns it to our library. Apparently, this version didn’t focus as much on the complicated nature of the relationships but instead concentrated more on being a visual experience. It will be interesting to see the the differences. Hans Matheson plays Dr. Zhivago in this presentation, best known for really not much which is suprising because he’s fantastic in this movie and a very talented actor. Keira Knightly takes on Julie Christie’s part as Lara, a dressmakers daughter and Yurii Zhivago’s love. Knightly is probably best known for playing opposite Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Carribean which came out this past summer. She was also excellent.
However, I wouldn’t suggest this version to anyone who can’t stomach the brutality of war. If you can’t handle the butchering of limbs or situations of extreme starvation where a persons forearm actually starts to look tasty, don’t watch this. One specific scene will give me nightmares for some time to come. After being conscripted by the Red Army, Zhivago enters a small village with his troops. The place seems empty until they notice two legs, chopped off at the knees, nailed to a sign. As if this wasn’t horrific enough, the body that these legs belong to is actually still alive, hiding in a shed. He manages to crawl out, using one arm, since the other one has also been chopped off, pleading for help. Zhivago frantically digs for the morphine in his doctor’s bag, but realizes that there is none left, since his Comrade has stolen the rest so he can dull some of his own “pain”. Meanwhile, another soldier decides he can’t take it any longer, sneaks back to his wagon where his three children lie sleeping, pulls out his gun and shoots them. “No one can hurt them now” he says before pointing the gun at his own head. Zhivago looses it himself, and runs away, risking his own execution but luckily his Comrade feels sympathetic today and lets him go. He eventually finds his way back to the arms of Lara which brings us back to the heart of the story which really is the love story. I admire Zhivago’s character because he still somehow, in the middle of all of the monstrousness and inhumanity that’s going on around him, remains true to himself and manages to have a deep love for life.

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