April 9, 2009

Doctor Zhivago

Title: Doctor Zhivago
Year: 1965
Director: David Lean
Writer: Robert Bolt, based on the novel by Boris Pasternak
Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay
Music: Maurice Jarre
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score, Best Cinematography (color), Best Costume Design (color) and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (color); Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Courtenay), Best Editing and Best Sound; formerly on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a love story set in the Russian revolution
How I saw it: on video (rented on VHS from the library, I think), July 2008
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible).
Objective Rating: 2/10 (gets points for special effects/design and acting) c. 1.3/4 (Bad).

I don't see the point to this movie. For all the "epic scope," not much happens. In a three and a half hour movie, there are only four or five characters with any depth, and those at about the level of an action movie. The supposedly great music is ripped-off tunes, incompetently orchestrated. I'm a little proud of myself for getting through the whole thing. I mean, I didn't expect to like it or anything, but damn, it was completely terrible.

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