Dr Zhivago, 60 years on

David Lean directed a number of grand-scale epics (e.g. Lawrence of Arabia) but Doctor Zhivago (1966) was, arguably, his masterpiece. Based on the eponymous novel by Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) and set in Russia during the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution, the film follows the fortunes of Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara (Julie Christie) the woman to whom he dedicates his poetry.

The manuscript was completed in 1957 but was banned outright. When Pasternak, who Stalin once denounced as a “cloud dweller”, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was forced to refuse it.

Robert Bolt’s adaptation drastically changes the original story. The result is a narrative that is easy to follow, but many characters are changed or disappear altogether. To take just one example: we first encounter Lara’s lover and later husband Pasha Antipov (Tom Courtenay) distributing leaflets outside a factory while later he commands a Red Army military train. There is a chance encounter with Zhivago where Antipov, now called Strelnikov, is portrayed as a merciless brute.

However, in the novel Strelnikov is warm and friendly towards Zhivago. For whatever reason Bolt and Lean transformed the dreamy student of 1905 into a monster. So, I suggest, watch the film and read the book.