In late 1800s Russia, Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is born and loses his parents early in life. He is trained and makes his living as a doctor, but his real calling is poetry. He marries close family friend Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin). The night of their engagement is the first time Zhivago sees Lara (Julie Christie), the young woman who will irrevocably mark his life. Through World War 1 and the Russian Revolution, the two will come to know and love each other, though tragedy follows them to the end.

CRITIQUE

Over the scope of their careers, directors come to embody certain aspects of filmmaking that they excel at. Even the ones who prove themselves time and again to be adept and versatile usually end up standing out in one area more than another. Of those directors no longer with us, David Lean (one of those masters of his craft) is probably best known for the size and scope of his productions. Epic in every sense of the word, Doctor Zhivago thoroughly engages both the heart and the eye due to its superb direction, enthralling story, and excellent performances.

Zhivago stands as one of the last films to have a pure epic format--complete with overture and intermission, along with outsized running time. But the feel of an epic also applies to the actual content of the story. A general rule of thumb is that an epic must be grand enough to be described in bold letters: WAR! ROMANCE! TRAGEDY! The best of the genre avoid the melodrama this hints at, though, and Zhivago is an example of this. Very delicate content is handled with a soft touch by Lean, so that things like Lara’s distasteful association with Kamorovsky make the dramatic impact they need to without turning the audience off. By creating the bookends about Lara and Zhivago’s daughter, the film manages to keep the audience interested until the couple actually speak to each other about an hour and a half into the film.

The actors and Lean’s direction are equally impressive. Sharif’s soulful gaze captures perfectly the doctor-poet, while Christie, Guiness, Tom Courtenay, and Steiger all make their role look easy. Meanwhile, Lean takes transistions, cinematography, staging, and editing to new depths of meaning. Look at the scene where Zhivago composes the “Lara” poems and how the music playing mirrors the inspiration of the writer-- it starts and stops, then flows along. And what music it is. Lean cannily gathers artisans who produced unforgettable work here, beginning with Maurice Jarre’s iconic score. Even if you’ve never seen one frame of this film, you have heard “Lara’s Theme.”

Doctor Zhivago is, in scale and impact, a grand cinematic entertainment and example of fine romantic storytelling.

THE VIDEO

Doctor Zhivago is presented in anamorphic widescreen. The vast visuals look incredible in this digital restoration; it is simply wonderful, the colors and the picture are flawless. English subtitles are available.

THE AUDIO

Doctor Zhivago receives the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround treatment, and it is a wonderful presentation that showcases composer Maurice Jarre’s Oscar-winning score. Additional tracks include French 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Stereo.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary: Lean’s widow Sandra and actors Omar Sharif and Rod Steiger give a track collaboratively, though it’s clear that Steiger’s part was recorded separately and prior to his death in 2002. Sharif has such a clear speaking voice and is so direct about his thoughts that the discussion is always engaging to follow. He and Lean discuss the late director’s process and temperament, while Steiger focuses more on the actors and his own performance. There are some small patches of silence but they don’t last long. Overall, this is a nice commentary.

Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration: This 2-part, feature-length retrospective of the film is perhaps the best extra here, bringing together various directors, cinematographers, and producers working today to discuss the film, its production, and it’s legacy to the films of today. Director Gary Ross and producer Kathleen Kennedy are just two of the filmmakers of today who are influenced by Lean’s work in Zhivago. The comments made here are thrillingly full of pointing out the touches a viewer has to watch the film a couple of times to discover. Lean’s use of transitions, the use of score in the scene where Zhivago composes Lara’s poems, and more get praise and insight here. Definitely watch this extra.

Doctor Zhivago: The Making of a Russian Epic: This is an hour-long documentary which aired on television in 1995, narrated by Sharif and featuring interviews with him, Chaplin, Steiger, and more. It is here we learn that the production re-created early-1900s Moscow on a 10-acre site on the Spanish plains. It is great to interesting stories like the fact that Steiger got the shock out of Christie for their first kiss scene by convincing Lean to keep filming past the usual point, and the section that covers Pasternak is especially informative. I like the interviews with costume designer Phyllis Dalton, production designer John Box, and composer Jarre, who all won Academy Awards for their work here. The best bit may be when everyone points out that the hairstyles are too ‘60s. This is good but a bit dated, and Christie is noticeably absent.

Vintage Featurette Gallery: Two brief making-of docs from the film’s release, “Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean” and “David Lean’s Film of Doctor Zhivago” start off a group of interesting extras from the ‘60s. It is wonderful to hear Lean himself talk about casting the film in the first featurette, while the second is similar to the trailer (also on the disc) in being an overview of story and production with an encouragement to see the film.

Other extras here include press interviews with Sharif and Christie, featurettes on the set built for the film and Pasternak himself, Geraldine Chaplin’s screen test, and “This Is…” introductions to the three lead actors of Sharif, Christie, and Chaplin. There is a bit of repetition through these, but some fun stuff too. And the featurette devoted to Pasternak is especially fascinating and too brief. The best of the rest here are the ‘60s interviews and seeing Sharif be his usual courtly self and joke a bit at the same time. You’ll definitely enjoy these.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Doctor Zhivago is a true epic, with a length and scale that awes the viewer and is only matched by the emotional involvement of the story itself. The direction and performances imprint themselves on the audience’s memory as part of the experience. This “Anniversary Edition” DVD not only digitally remasters the picture but also provides hours worth of valuable extra features. (The only thing missing is new interviews with Sharif and Christie, really.) Fans of this film and Lean will already be planning to buy this, but any general film enthusiast would do well to own this two-disc DVD treatment of Doctor Zhivago.